Kings attempted to trade for Klay Thompson, lacked trade assets

Klay Thompson agreed to a four-year, $70 million dollar extension with the Golden State Warriors on Friday.  While it looked like Klay and the Warriors wouldn't reach a deal before Friday's deadline, the Sacramento Kings may have had a hand in the deal getting done.

Kings made late push to try to acquire Klay Thompson for anyone not named Cousins or Gay, a source said. Might have helped push GS agreement

— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) October 31, 2014

What the Kings' offer could've done: Gotten GSWs worried that a Chandler Parsons-like trick offer sheet was coming from SAC next summer.

— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) October 31, 2014

As great as it would have been for the Kings to snag a player of Thompson's caliber, there are some interesting things we can take away from this.  On a positive note, the Kings remain aggressive.  They're still working every angle in an attempt to land another impact player.  This lines up with the rhetoric we've heard all offseason.

It also tells us that the Kings see Rudy Gay as part of this team's long term future.  If the Kings expected Rudy Gay to walk this coming offseason, there would be no reason to hold back from including him in their proposed deal.  It will be interesting to see what the future holds, but the Kings are planning on Rudy sticking around.

We can also surmise that teams expect the Kings to be very aggressive this offseason.  The Kings will have cap space, and folks know that the Kings are ready to spend.

Finally, it tells us what we already knew.  Despite their aggressive desire to improve, the Kings lack attractive assets needed to facilitate a trade.  The landscape of the NBA is ever-changing, so don't interpret this as saying the Kings won't be able to pull of a big trade.  But right now, with the current roster, the Kings couldn't land a rising star who was due a big payday.