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The Sacramento Kings just pulled off one of the biggest moves of this offseason. They finalized a sign-and-trade with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs to acquire six-time All-Star and three-time All-NBA forward DeMar DeRozan.
DeRozan provides the Kings with more playmaking and offensive firepower along with them retaining Malik Monk. There are more moves for Sacramento to make though. Targeting free agents like Doug McDermott and Cedi Osman would be a great way for the Kings to round out their roster.
A reunion with Doug McDermott and Domantas Sabonis
When the Kings lost Monk and Kevin Huerter late last season due to injury a lot of their motion and movement offense went with them. Part of the reason for that is Sacramento does not have a ton of movement shooters after those two. The Kings can fix that by signing Doug McDermott in free agency.
McDermott would fill a couple of voids on Sacramento's roster. Not only would he give them another lethal movement shooter to fit into their offense, but the Kings lost multiple forwards from last year's rotation. Barnes is off to the Spurs and Sasha Vezenkov got traded to the Toronto Raptors in a different deal. What also helps matters is McDermott's prior chemistry with Domantas Sabonis back in Indiana.
Remember when I wrote about McDermott as a screener? https://t.co/9CsGecN9N6
Flips what looks like the approach for that post-up play into Spain PnR and then flows into blind-pig with Sabonis. Really fun half from him as an off-ball mover as well as schemes. pic.twitter.com/j5oJGIK65K
— Caitlin Cooper (@C2_Cooper) January 12, 2021
Two of the best seasons in McDermott's career came in Indiana with Sabonis. His two best scoring seasons on a per-36-minute basis came in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons with the Indiana Pacers. In those campaigns, McDermott posted an effective field goal percentage of 60.5% and 61.6%. He also shot 64.1% on two-point shots in 2021, which is by far a career-high.
The framing regarding the Kings' free agent acquisition of DeRozan was to ‘keep up with the Western Conference’s offensive arms race.' McDermott is not near DeRozan's level as a player, but he can help make Sacramento's offense all the more potent. He'd be a great fit on the Kings' roster.
A new Cedi in Kings town
Another player who may not cost much to bring in and would be a great fit with Sacramento is Cedi Osman. Osman is not the shooter McDermott is, but he is a bulkier forward who can fill the void Barnes left behind. He's also a solid shooter. Osman is a career 35.7% shooter from distance for his career. He bumped that percentage up to 37.2% last season and 38.9% in this most previous year.
With Barnes and Vezenkov out of the picture, the Kings are suddenly short on wings outside of Keegan Murray. They did acquire Jalen McDaniels in a deal with the Raptors that sent out Vezenkov and Davion Mitchell, but the depth chart at that position is barren after him. Trey Lyles can defend some wings but he's best used as a forward or a small ball five.
No one will mistake Osman out to be a stopper but he has the size at 6-foot-7 and 230 pounds to defend some of the bigger forwards in the league. Murray and McDaniels are lankier and more agile players who can stick with the more shifty wings and guards. With Kevin Huerter being able to slide up and defend wings in a pinch, Sacramento could be ok at that spot if they added Osman.
Sacramento has had a great offseason. They kept their most prized free agent in Monk and added another star-caliber player to their team in DeRozan. But now they have to fortify their depth. Adding to their roster by going after free agents like McDermott and Osman would be a great way for the Kings to do exactly that.
