How Masai Ujiri's Departure Effects the Sacramento Kings

Ujiri brought a championship to Toronto in 2019 with the bold Kawhi Leonard trade, but the Raptors struggled the last two seasons, finishing 25-57 (.305) two years ago and 30-52 (.366) last season.

While it doesn't seem like this will have any effect the Kings, it could have an impact on Scott Perry and the rest of the Sacramento front office as they continue to look at reshaping their roster via trade and free agency.

The Kings have repeatedly been linked to the Raptors this offseason. Sacramento is said to have an interest in both RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, and the Raptors have been linked to Kings guard Malik Monk.

Both players are former New York Knicks, which is what makes them such popular names in Sacramento. Quickley especially is a name that makes sense as the Kings biggest need is at the point guard position.

It's possible that Ujiri being let go has no effect on the Kings plan for this offseason, but yesterday on D-Lo and KC, Damien Barling and ABC10's Matt George discussed how the market for Monk may not be as robust as we all thought.

Monk has widely been regarded as one of the Kings best trade assets this offseason, a topic I've written about multiple times. But if Monk isn't as valuable as he appeared, the Kings could be in a tough spot this offseason.

Most of their contracts are large and harder to move, from Zach LaVine at $47 million and Domantas Sabonis at $42 million. But Monk is set to make just under $19 million next season, which is a seemingly great value for what he brings on the court as a scorer and distributor.

But if whoever the Raptors bring in to replace Ujiri isn't as high on Monk, the Kings could find it even more challenging to move their electric guard. The Raptors have been linked to Monk for years, and it was feeling inevitable that some sort of deal was worked out this offseason with the Kings logjam at the two-guard.

On the flipside, it's possible that Ujiri's replacement is on board with a trade with Perry and the Kings, and a deal gets done in quicker fashion. Ujiri was known for asking for an arm and a leg for his players, which Kings fans learned during the OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam trade sagas.

It's possible this is all for not, and the Kings get a deal done with the Raptors anyway, or shift their focus to trades with another team, but in an ever-changing NBA landscape, this could have a trickle down effect on the Kings that none of us saw coming.