Domantas Sabonis and rookie Maxime Raynaud showcase surprising frontcourt chemistry, forcing the Sacramento Kings to potentially question his trade future.
The Sacramento Kings' three-time All-Star Domantas Sabonis became one of the fixtures of the NBA trade deadline prior to its passing at 3 p.m. on Thursday, as he'd been involved in numerous conversations surrounding the Toronto Raptors and RJ Barrett.
A deal between the Kings and Raptors centered around a Sabonis-Barrett swap fell through, and Sacramento moved past the deadline with the three-time rebounding champion still on the roster, but that might not be such a bad thing for a few reasons.
First, the Kings could always attempt to shut the skilled big man down for a large stretch of the rest of the season to preserve his health for a potential deal in the offseason. Second, the franchise might have indirectly found something very meaningful that could derail plans of a trade in the first place (somewhat).
In the Kings' final game before deadline day on Wednesday, the team lost a nail-biter to a severely undermanned Memphis Grizzlies squad 129-125, but a breakthrough could be seen developing in real time with regard to the growing chemistry between Sabonis and Sacramento's impressive rookie center Maxime Raynaud.
While it may appear obvious that their paths are only coinciding with each other because they'll be forced to until the end of the season, Sabonis and Raynaud are becoming a very fun duo to watch in the frontcourt, even despite the Kings' ongoing 10-game losing skid.
During the most recent of their string of embarrassing defeats, there were a few sequences involving Sabonis and Raynaud as a tandem that may have been able to inject, dare I say, excitement into Kings fans.
Is the Sabonis-Raynaud Duo Worth Investing In?
Sabonis dominated Memphis on Wednesday, finishing with 24 points, 15 rebounds and three assists in only 24 minutes of work. Of the supremely skilled passing big's three dimes, two of them were the result of a slick feed to a diving Raynaud, who finished the play with a nice floater and easy reverse layup, respectively.
The play-making creativity displayed by Sabonis has become a routine piece of the Kings' offensive attack, but Raynaud's addition into the fold provides him with a fun piece to experiment with.
In his first 44 games with the Kings, Raynaud has averaged 9.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists with Sabonis out of the rotation for much of the year, but it looks as though he's already developed a natural feel for playing alongside him in recent weeks.
Sure, it's fair to shut these kinds of conversations down by offering a reminder that Sabonis' chemistry with a second-round pick rookie who plays the same position as him won't be just cause for keeping him around and using the two as building blocks for the future, but their combined skillset is surely interesting to think about.
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