Kings Will Not Pick Up the Phone for Guard After Blockbuster Trade

After a blockbuster Wednesday that saw some huge moves made from the Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trail Blazers, and Phoenix Suns, which saw each team shift around big names, it's safe to say the league will look quite different next year. The Bucks acquiring superstar G Damian Lillard while sending G Jrue Holiday back to Portland, on top of Portland's acquisition of former number one pick C Deandre Ayton certainly shakes up the league.

Despite the Blazers trading for Jrue Holiday, it was very quickly reported that they did not intend to keep him around and would look to flip Holiday after drafting rookie G Scoot Henderson with the number three pick in the 2023 NBA draft. This very quickly brought up a question: Should the Sacramento Kings pick up the phone for Jrue Holiday?

Jrue would bring a championship-level mindset and exposure to the Kings, as he was the starting point guard for the Bucks during their 2021 NBA championship run. A pass-first Holiday would be highly efficient in the Kings offense, who very quickly move the ball around with numerous handoffs and screens. Holiday, who was top 10 in assists per game last season, has fantastic court vision and is a great all-around guard.

A trade for Holiday would look similar to a number of mock trades for the Kings: packing G Davion Mitchell and G Kevin Huerter, as well as some other assets, for the right to Holiday. The problem with Holiday, who is 33, is not his age, but rather his contract only has one more year on it before a player option and inevitable unrestricted free agency - and the Kings have decided to not make the call for Jrue Holiday, as reported by Sam Amick of The Athletic.

For those Kings fans wondering, I'm told Sacramento won't be part of the Jrue Holiday sweepstakes. They looked at it (naturally), like so many other teams, but aren't in the mix.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) September 29, 2023

Trading away the defensive maestro of Mitchell and crucial elements from Huerter wouldn't make sense for one year of Holiday, especially since we have seen great improvement in off-season videos from Mitchell specifically.

While Holiday is undoubtedly a great player, this move just does not make sense for a young Kings team, who will run it back with largely the same roster next season as they make a run for the organization's first championship since 1951.

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