The San Antonio Spurs have made nine trades with the Sacramento Kings in franchise history, being the clear winner in most of them, although the Spurs have milked that cow dry.
Dating back to 1979, the San Antonio Spurs and Sacramento Kings have made nine trades. The most recent, where the Spurs netted De'Aaron Fox, was easily the biggest deal between the two teams.
Of those nine deals, the Spurs were clear-cut winners in five of them. Keep in mind, the Kings attached a 2031 first-round pick to Harrison Barnes just for the Spurs to take on his contract. This season, Barnes has been one of the more steady role-players in the NBA, playing a massive role in keeping the team afloat without Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle, and Dylan Harper.
Whenever the Kings pick up the phone, the Spurs should giddily answer it, ready to make a deal.
The only problem is, the Spurs may have exhausted that trade resource.
CBS Sports' Sam Quinn ranked all 30 teams on how badly they need to blow up and reshape their roster. Unsurprisingly, the Kings are the team most in need of an overhaul. As Quinn pointed out, only Domantas Sabonis and Keon Ellis are their truly positive trade assets.
Would the Spurs be willing and eager to break the bank for Sabonis? Absolutely not! Neither his contract nor playstyle fits the Spurs' system. Ellis is a more intriguing fit for the Silver and Black, although he will get paid this summer, and the Spurs might not be willing to commit massive (or somewhat massive) money to a project player.
The Spurs have tapped the Kings' well dry.
"DeMar DeRozan is overpaid, though his partially guaranteed contract for next season might appeal to the right, financially desperate team," Quinn listed. "The Dennis Schröder contract was a puzzler from the moment it was signed. Giving a three-year deal to a player who had been on seven teams in the previous four seasons was a strange choice. The Kings seemingly canvassed the league for a Malik Monk deal over the summer and found nothing. If there were robust interest in Russell Westbrook around the league, he wouldn't have signed in October. Zach LaVine is actually playing reasonably well. Nobody wants injury-prone guards in their 30s on max contracts that don't defend anymore."
The Spurs have the means to trade for nearly any player they want. The Kings have proven themselves to be suckers, especially when Brian Wright comes calling. However, they don't have anything left to offer. Unfortunately, the Spurs will have to start looking elsewhere. Maybe the Chicago Bulls or Atlanta Hawks want to make a deal?
The Spurs have a good track record with them, too.