Based on recent reports, it appears that Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis has negative trade value.
This offseason, the Sacramento Kings have made a few moves, but there is one move that has not been made yet that is still a major storyline. That move is the potential trade of center Domantas Sabonis, as he has been constantly involved in trade rumors this summer.
At this point, it does not seem very likely that Sabonis will be traded with training camp just around the corner. Additionally, the latest report does suggest the Kings may not have much leverage to be able to trade Sabonis.
According to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, Sabonis has negative trade value around the league and will need to be compensated with draft capital to take on Sabonis and extend him.
With that said, it will be interesting to see how the Kings choose to proceed, because with Sabonis not having great trade value, Sacramento may need to keep him on roster and put him in a position to perform well so his trade value can improve from where it is now.
The reason the Kings may want to do that is the fact that because they are in a rebuild and are trying to build up the roster with young talent, draft picks are very valuable and to give one up to get rid of Sabonis in a trade just does not seem beneficial for the future of the franchise.
While Sabonis has been circulated in trade rumors, it is not because his performance has been lackluster, it is simply because the Kings are in a rebuild as mentioned and with him being 30 years old he does not really fit into that kind of roster approach.
On that note, while the Kings have been thinking about moving on from Sabonis, they have also been trying to acquire Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren, who is a lot younger, as he is 22 years old and is a lot more applicable to the rebuild approach.
To this point, with Sabonis having negative trade value as well as the Pistons seeming to be uninterested in Sabonis, it is highly unlikely that Sabonis would swap places with Duren. However, for the Kings to be able to acquire Duren, they need to trade away Sabonis in a deal of some kind so they can afford to extend Duren on the max deal he is seeking.
This situation has been very interesting to monitor this offseason, and it is a lot more interesting when considering the fact that now the Kings may need to give up more than they would like to move on from Sabonis so they can make room for Duren and potentially pair him with rookie guard Darius Acuff Jr., which could be a very formidable duo.
