What the Kings Should Expect in Return for a Malik Monk Trade

How Monk stacks up among his peers

In light of recent reports and with Smith and Lane’s conversation in mind, it is worth looking into what teams have gotten in return from trading their guards this summer. For comparison, Norman Powell, Anfernee Simons, C.J. McCollum, Jordan Poole, and Colin Sexton - all guards with relatively similar profiles - were traded. 

These counting stats do not tell the full story, but Monk stacks up relatively well next to these players, especially considering most of these comps were a rung or two up the offensive pecking order on their respective teams. 

What stands out, though, is the remaining years and money committed. Aside from Poole, all comps are on expiring contracts. Teams, seeing just how restrictive the aprons can be, are clearly prioritizing flexibility and maneuverability over long-term commitments for known entities. 

Most reasonable people would agree that having Monk at $20M AAV (roughly 12% of the salary cap) for three years of what should be his prime is not necessarily a bad contract. However, it appears that Monk’s additional two years are a bit of an eye sore on a cap sheet and stand out (negatively) in the eyes of decision makers.

While the comps are all productive players, the returns they have fetched are underwhelming considering most score over 20 PPG and maintain solid shooting splits in high usage roles. There was a time when that type of player would return a haul, but that does not appear to be the case now.

What would the Kings get in a Monk trade?

The chart below is obviously missing some details (WAS-NOP was a three-team trade with HOU involved too), but it roughly outlines what was given and received in the respective transactions. 

As you can see, none of the comps returned a first-round pick or prospect, which should be the priority for a Sacramento team stuck on the Play-In hamster wheel and in need of a reset. If anything, Portland may have received negative value in return for Simons by receiving a 35-year-old Jrue Holiday, who still has three years and roughly $100M on his contract. 

The Clippers receiving John Collins, a rotational player also on an expiring contract at a different position, is the closest thing to true value in the above deals. If the Kings were to trade Monk, this is the avenue that would most likely look like ‘getting value back’ for Monk. Considering the seemingly perpetual roster imbalance Sacramento has, they should be looking at this avenue for re turn packages if they are truly still exploring Monk trades. 

McCollum and Poole were traded for each other in what was one of the more head-scratching trades of the summer. The Pelicans, in particular, were panned for making that trade. 

While Bey might turn out as a solid reclamation project at a bargain bin salary, swapping McCollum and his expiring contract for a similar enough player with an additional guaranteed season on his contract had people really scratching their heads, even if Poole is significantly younger than McCollum. 

The perception around the Clippers trading Powell, coming off one of the best shooting seasons in the league and nearly making an All-Star team, was that Powell’s potential future salary played a role. Powell is extension eligible, and LA clearly did not want to commit more years to a 32-year-old secondary guard - even if he shot the cover off the ball last season and clearly meshed with their other key pieces in an expanded role.

The financial concerns can be taken with an already lined-up Bradley Beal-at-exception-money-as-a-replacement-sized grain of salt, but the aversion to committing long-term money was clearly a factor. 

So, even the potential to have to pay a player (or a desire to avoid having to potentially pay a player) is now factoring into decisions to keep or trade productive players at Monk’s position as extensions become more common and the willingness to pay (via FA or extension) sub-max, one way undersized guards rapidly declines. 

This is all a long-winded way of saying that Matt George’s reporting on the situation has aged well. It appears that asking teams to take on three years of guaranteed money (and expecting to get real value in return) is a tough ask, even if the player is generally well-liked, productive, and in their prime seasons. 

Tim Bontemps has repeatedly referred to the score-first 2 guard as the least valuable archetype in the league right now. He is not at all alone with that view. The perception of Monk’s contract (and the smaller 2-guard market at large) is clearly not good right now, and the return in any trade that materializes will probably reflect that.