Kings' Latest Roster Move Signals Potential Failed Trade

"But parting ways with Davis, who was on a non-guaranteed contract, would appear to signal that the Kings no longer believed his contract could be useful in a potential trade for salary-matching purposes," Fischer wrote.

"One example: Had sign-and-trade talks for Kuminga ever reached an advanced stage, Sacramento could have guaranteed Davis' deal to include him. Davis' contract was set to become guaranteed on the first day of the regular season. As one cap-minded league figure explained to me yesterday: "The only reason for Sacramento to have kept Davis this long was to have potentially used him in a trade.""

In today's NBA landscape, Davis' $2.5 million expiring contract could have been an attractive asset to a team looking to save a little money next offseason. It doesn't seem like much, but every dollar counts with the new aprons.

The Golden State Warriors specifically have been reluctant to take on money, especially money that was on the books for more than a year. It's why there is reportedly little interest in Malik Monk from the Warriors.

For the Kings, it made sense to hang on to Davis as a potential trade chip, as they don't have much money to send out in any trades. They have big money contracts, but they lack any mid-range contracts, especially those that were on the shorter timeline like Davis.

The other clue that Davis would eventually be waived was his position. With the Kings loaded at the shooting guard position, it always felt like a matter of time before Davis was moved in one way or another.

If Fischer is right and the Kings don't have any other moves up their sleeves, that means they'll enter the 2025-26 season with an extremely unbalanced roster once again. That's not the worst thing in the world, as no one expects the Kings to truly compete in the daunting Western Conference, but the players all seem ready to compete and show they are being underestimated entereing the season.

It's possible that the Kings and Warriors still make a deal centered around Dario Saric, Devin Carter, or Malik Monk, but we can certainly say that Terence Davis won't be part of that trade package. It always seemed like a long shot that Kuminga would end up in Sacramento, and this end-of-the-bench move hints that that is still the case.