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There were earlier reports that the Sacramento Kings were possibly looking to trade their fifth- and 10th-overall picks in the NBA Draft for the Philadelphia 76ers‘ third-overall pick in order to have surefire shot at nabbing Kentucky point guard De'Aaron Fox.
However, as the Sacramento Bee's Ailene Voisin points out, her sources within the Kings organization stated that moving up just two spots in the draft for two first-round picks is not the right call after all.
Again, my Kings sources tell me they have no interest in trading Nos. 5 and 10 picks to Philly for No. 3. Feel too steep a price. https://t.co/kEOinEKyMy
— Ailene Voisin (@ailene_voisin) June 14, 2017
In large part, the Kings' initial decision to trade away two valuable assets for one that's slightly better in solitary value is a move that they'd likely regret. The Sixers could very well draft Fox with their third-overall pick, but the Kings would still have great options with the remaining players projected to fall into their laps at No. 5.
With Rudy Gay recently opting out of his player option, Sacramento would likely be without a starting small forward once Gay officially hits free agency. As such, the team will still have its pick of the litter between Kansas' Josh Jackson, Duke's Jayson Tatum and FSU's Jonathan Isaac as a new cornerstone to build around.
It goes without saying that the Kings will still have their 10th-overall pick in hand, which they could then use to draft another standout point guard such as Fox's fellow Wildcat Malik Monk or NC State's Dennis Smith Jr. to round out their young, dynamic core for the future.
Then again, Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has had a history of making questionable draft-day decisions on behalf of the entire team, so this whole ordeal could still take a turn for the worse on June 22.
