After a promising performance last year, the Sacramento Kings were expected to be one of the NBA teams who would make a huge noise in the Western Conference this season. Unfortunately, the Kings are off to a slow start in the 2019-20 NBA season, losing six of their first eight games. If they are serious about fully dominating the Western Conference and contending for the NBA championship title, the Kings should strongly consider addressing the major issues on their team. This includes their offensive efficiency, which currently ranks 26th in the league, scoring 100.6 points per 100 possessions, per ESPN .
According to Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report , the Kings could boost their scoring and shooting by trading for Danilo Gallinari of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Ponying up for a Danilo Gallinari rental should help turn those numbers around. The 11-year veteran proved he’s an elite offensive contributor when healthy last season, as he tallied a career-best 19.8 points per game and a pristine 46.3/43.3/90.4 shooting slash. So far, he’s picking up where he left off with 18 a night on 45.3/43.6/100 shooting. He should be very obtainable, too, as a 31-year-old in the final season of his contract with a rebuilding team.”
Instead of slowing down their development, Buckley believes that the potential arrival of Gallinari in Sacramento would be benefit both franchise cornerstones De’Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield.
“His comfort with the basketball would ease the burden on De’Aaron Fox. The half-court offense would get a boost by having Gallinari and Buddy Hield both racing around screens and launching upon the catch.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q79npPjqOSE
In the proposed trade deal by Bleacher Report , the Kings would be sending a trade package including Trevor Ariza, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Harry Giles III, and a lottery-protected 2020 first-round pick to the Thunder in exchange for Gallinari and Nerlens Noel. Since Ariza just signed a new contract in the 2019 NBA free agency, both teams would be needing to wait until mid-December to push through with the deal.
However, if the trade becomes a reality, it would not only be beneficial for the Kings, but also for the Thunder. In exchange for Gallinari’s expiring contract , the Thunder would acquire young and promising talent in Giles and a future draft pick that would help them speed up the rebuilding process in the post-Russell Westbrook era. The Thunder could use Ariza’s expiring contract as a trade chip to obtain more future draft assets before the 2020 February NBA trade deadline.