Sacramento Kings Deal With the Devil in NBA Mock Trade

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By JH Kubicek | Last updated May 8, 2025 5:37 PM ET

During the 2024 NBA offseason, the Sacramento Kings sent Harrison Barnes and a 2031 first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs just to make room to add DeMar DeRozan. Barnes, who waived his trade kicker to appease his new team, posted a career-high in 3-point percentage and started all 82 games for the Spurs.

Before the trade deadline, the Spurs sent minimal assets to the Kings in exchange for All-Star point guard De'Aaron Fox in a deal that all but ended the Kings' playoff hopes.

Dealing with the Spurs has not gone well for the Kings, although they could try to redeem themselves this offseason.

The Spurs, as they build around Victor Wembanyama, are on the verge of having a complete roster, although they lack a backup center. Zach Collins, Bismack Biyombo, and Charles Bassey have all had turns, although none of them were capable of shouldering a big load when Wembanyama missed time.

Jonas Valančiūnas is one of the best backup bigs in the league, and could, in theory, even share the floor with Wemby. Of course, in order to ensure that the Kings don't get fleeced again, they wouldn't trade Valančiūnas for anything less than a sizeable haul.

Mock Trade Details

Kings receive: Malaki Branham, Blake Wesley, 2025 second-round pick, 2030 pick swap (via most favorable of DAL or MIN), their own 2031 first-round pick swap back

Spurs receive: Jonas Valančiūnas

The Kings, while losing some frontcourt depth, add two young guards. Wesley showed some promise as a lead guard for the Spurs, averaging 2.4 assists and 1.2 steals in limited minutes in his last 20 games of last season.

This is not a win-now move for the Kings, although it does open up some cap space for them to sign a backup center behind Domantas Sabonis. Clint Capela and Brook Lopez both come to mind.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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