Trade Deadline passes with no further moves by Kings

After seemingly signaling their intent to rebuild by trading DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans, the Kings managed to reach the deadline without making any further moves. While Darren Collison, Ben McLemore and Arron Afflalo all were apparently discussed today, Sacramento chose to stand pat.

Per Sam Amick:

The Kings will likely now get nothing in return at all for Darren Collison (who they were apparently seeking a first round pick for) as he will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. Ben McLemore will also be a Free Agent, but the Kings can give him a qualifying offer and make him restricted. Arron Afflalo has a partially unguaranteed contract for next season and will likely be bought out.

I was hopeful that the Kings could get at least some more assets today and buy further into the rebuild, or even at least to help out some of the roster confusion as the team is now made up of mostly Shooting Guards, but instead the Kings did nothing.

The Kings need to pick a direction and go with it. Standing pat after making a move as monumental as trading DeMarcus Cousins seems counter-intuitive. This is a team that should be looking to acquire as many assets for the future as they can, whether it be picks, cash, salary relief, or whatever. If Vlade couldn’t get any of that for Darren, Ben or Afflalo, fine. But I find that hard to believe, especially in Collison’s case. Would a first rounder have been nice? Yes. But a young player or a second round pick would have been fine too.

The Kings have never rebuilt properly since the downfall of the Chris Webber-led teams. Now in the face of one of the biggest trades in franchise history, it’s time to commit to the process and do it right for once.