Report: Kings ‘Expected Suitors’ for Raptors’ Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby
We now sit just under two months until the NBA trade deadline hits, signaling an increasing amount of rumors and whispers around the league leading up to it. The Sacramento Kings have been no stranger to these, as they’ve been continuously pinned by many as a possible buyer on the market to help assist this team’s championship push.
Those mentions have only continued with recent developments surrounding the future of the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto has kicked off the season with a 9-13 record, good enough for 11th in the Eastern Conference. However, with this team seeming a bit short of playoff expectations, there’s reason to believe GM Masai Ujiri is looking to retool the timeline of this roster.
4x-All-NBA forward Pascal Siakam and seven-year wing OG Anunoby have been the most notable names hinted as trade pieces, considering their expiring contracts leaving them as free agents for this upcoming summer. It presents the perfect opportunity for the Raptors to move off of them now to gain young pieces and/or draft capital to help their rebuild.
In his newest report, Shams Charania of The Athletic details the Kings among two other rumored franchises that could look to jump on a potential fire sale in Toronto:
"Teams such as the Atlanta Hawks, Sacramento Kings, and Indiana Pacers are expected suitors for Siakam or Anunoby but believe Siakam appears to be the likelier player to be dealt, league sources tell The Athletic. Siakam, 29, is earning $37.9 million in the last year of his Raptors contract this season while Anunoby, 26, has a $19.9 million player option for next season that he will almost assuredly decline to enter free agency."
If the Raptors didn’t plan on resigning one, if not both of their guys, the focus for Ujuri then switches to a potential mid-season shift to acquire assets while he still can. If a team like Sacramento is willing to push in a few of their chips to make that push, a move like this is well within the realm of possibility.
Both players present some steep value for the Kings in their own ways. Anunoby would be an extremely complimentary fit next to De’Aaron Fox on the perimeter with his two-way ability while Siakam could pair next to Domantas Sabonis in the frontcourt to bring additional scoring and versatility.
Still, Charania continues in his report to voice some hesitancy on the Kings making a big splash considering their success this season, also noting that the entire trade process surrounding Anunoby and Siakam may drag out until the very end:
For the Kings, a better start to this season than a year ago (12-8 this season compared to 11-9 last season en route to a 48-win campaign) provides confidence that they can grow internally rather than compete for the expected cost of talents such as Siakam and Anunoby...Around the league, many expect the Raptors to scan their options all the way up until the trade deadline. And negotiations with the Raptors will always be, in the words of one rival executive, “a game of chicken.”
While the Kings have remained patient on the trade market since finding their recent success, it presents a nice chunk of flexibility of not being forced into one specific direction. Sacramento still has control of most of its draft capital along with possessing many friendly contracts on the books to fit into a deal down the line.
Expect many more rumors to appear on the radar across the coming weeks as the trade season gets more active.
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