Kings to acquire veteran center in trade with Wizards

Sacramento will use one of its exceptions to take on Valanciunas’ $9.9M salary, according to cap analyst Yossi Gozlan (X link). The Kings have tax flexibility after trading De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio earlier this week. The deal with Washington leaves them about $2.5M below the tax line, Gozlan adds.

Valanciunas, a 32-year-old center, will provide veteran frontcourt depth for Sacramento. He appeared in 49 games during his lone season in Washington, averaging 11.5 points and 8.2 rebounds in 20.1 minutes per night while shooting 54.7% from the field. Valanciunas will join Domantas Sabonis, his longtime teammate on the Lithuanian national team, notes Marc Stein (X link).

The Nuggets were also hoping to land Valanciunas, sources tell Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (X link), as were the Suns as they try to find a taker for Jusuf Nurkic.

The second-round picks heading to the Wizards bring their total to 19 over the next seven drafts, according to Gozlan (X link). Cissoko is making just $1.89M, so this deal helps them offset the extra salary they took on earlier on Wednesday by agreeing to trade for Khris Middleton. Gozlan states that Washington will create a $9.9M trade exception and is now $11.8M below the tax line.

This is the second trade of the week for Cissoko, a 20-year-old small forward, who went from San Antonio to Sacramento in the Fox deal. He has seen minimal playing time at the NBA level since being selected with the 44th pick in the 2023 draft. Cissoko appeared in 17 games for the Spurs this season, averaging 1.3 PPG in 3.2 minutes per night.