Last week, the Sacramento Kings made one of the biggest moves in franchise history, trading All-Star point guard De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs. Through eight seasons in Sacramento, Fox became one of the top players the franchise has ever seen.
Trading away a player of Fox’s caliber is always a difficult decision for a franchise, but the Kings got a reasonable return for their star guard. While sending out Fox, the Kings brought in two-time All-Star Zach LaVine and some much-needed draft capital.
Over a week after the blockbuster trade went down, Kings general manager Monte McNair joined The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross on Sactown Sports 1140, reflecting on the decision to move De’Aaron Fox.
“When we did go to the market, wanting to stay competitive by getting somebody of Zach [LaVine’s] quality, a multi-time All-Star,” McNair said. “At the same time, stockpile our assets and our pick package. Getting a player that keeps us in the thick of the Western Conference plus two unprotected picks and a handful of others… that package was enticing to us. We’ll see how it ultimately ends up working out but we like what we’ve seen so far.”
The Kings made it clear they wanted to stay competitive even while trading their star point guard and bringing in a proven offensive star in LaVine to pair with Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, and Malik Monk certainly keeps them in that conversation.
