Draft pick demands stall Sabonis-to-Toronto talks. The Kings want first-rounders, the Raptors offer seconds, creating a familiar impasse.
The Sacramento Kings have continued to hold plenty of exploratory conversations with the Toronto Raptors on a blockbuster deal involving multi-faceted center Domantas Sabonis.
For a rising Eastern Conference squad like Toronto with somewhat realistic chances of making a deep postseason run in 2026, the process of landing a frontcourt star to bolster their starting unit should be pretty easy, considering their number of valuable trade chips and decent haul of draft capital.
Unfortunately, dialogue between the two franchises on the Sabonis front have been anything but, as both teams are caught in the midst of a seemingly never-ending battle to wind up with the more favorable return.
Toronto's goal is to land a piece that gets them closer to seriously competing or a title, while Sacramento wishes to bring in as many solid young players and first-round draft picks as possible to ignite a hard reset. The problem lies with the Kings' end of the transaction, as the Raptors' reluctance to include first-round draft capital has stalled any conversations between the two sides, according to NBA on Prime insider Chris Haynes.
"I still think there's potential for a deal to get done where Sabonis does end up in Canada," Haynes shared during a recent NBA TV appearance.
"With that being said, the deal is centered around Sabonis, RJ Barrett, and there will be some other players, fill-in players," Haynes continued.
"Sources have told me the holdup is (that) the Toronto Raptors... they want to include, in the package, second-round picks. The Sacramento Kings are asking for a first-round pick."
"So, I'm told that if they do not get a first-round pick included in the deal, the deal will be off."
In an interesting development, it appears as though the Raptors are testing the Kings' front office following the completion of their three-team trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls.
It's a smart move, as Toronto's higher-ups are aiming to see how far the Kings will go to offload Sabonis' deal, and whether or not they'll somehow give away the 3-time All-Star for no first-round draft capital in exchange.
Sacramento has already given away a positive asset in Keon Ellis along with Dennis Schröder in a deal for no draft assets at all, and the Raptors are testing their luck with a Kings group pushing to get a deal across the finish line.
At the end of the day, even if RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and others are floated as options for the Kings in talks with the Raptors, gaining zero first-round picks in exchange for the 3-time rebounding champion and one of the most versatile centers in the NBA would be nothing short of malpractice with regard to asset management.
Toronto's attempt to pull a fast one by offering a few second-rounders should not work on Kings general manager Scott Perry, but history shows that these kinds of situations are always possible.
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