{"id":121618,"date":"2025-02-03T00:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T05:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=121618"},"modified":"2025-02-03T00:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T05:04:16","slug":"nba-trade-grades-wemby-gets-star-running-mate-while-kings-get-another-scorer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/03\/nba-trade-grades-wemby-gets-star-running-mate-while-kings-get-another-scorer\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Trade Grades: Wemby Gets Star Running Mate While Kings Get Another Scorer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another surprising big NBA trade<\/a> is underway, with De’Aaron Fox<\/a> headed to San Antonio<\/a> to give Victor Wembanyama<\/a> his first true co-star. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania<\/a>, this trade is a three-teamer involving the Spurs<\/a>, Sacramento Kings<\/a>, and Chicago Bulls<\/a>. Per Charania, the details of the seven-player trade include seven draft picks.<\/p>\n

NBA Trade Grades: Wemby Gets Star Running Mate While Kings Get Another Scorer<\/h2>\n

Trade Details<\/h3>\n

San Antonio Receives:<\/h4>\n

De’Aaron Fox and Jordan McLoughlin<\/a> from Sacramento<\/p>\n

Sacramento Receives:<\/h4>\n

Zach LaVine<\/a> from Chicago<\/p>\n

Sidy Cissoko<\/a> from the Spurs.<\/p>\n

The Kings also receive six draft picks, including three first-rounders:<\/p>\n

2025 first-rounder via Charlotte<\/p>\n

2025 second-rounder via Chicago<\/p>\n

2027 first-rounder via San Antonio<\/p>\n

2028 second-rounder via Denver<\/p>\n

2028 Own Second Rounder<\/p>\n

2031 Minnesota First-Rounder<\/p>\n

Chicago Receives:<\/h3>\n

Zach Collins<\/a> and Tre Jones<\/a> from the Spurs<\/p>\n

Kevin Huerter<\/a> from the Kings<\/p>\n

Own 2025 First-Round Pick (via Spurs)<\/p>\n

What Does The Trade Mean For San Antonio?<\/h3>\n

San Antonio is ahead of schedule as Wembenyama continues to impress. The Spurs, who haven’t made the playoffs since the 2018-19 campaign,\u00a0 are one victory short of matching their win total in each of the last two seasons at 21-25. They sit 12th in the Western Conference but are just two games behind the Kings for the final Play-In spot.<\/p>\n

Wemby, the 2024 ROY, has increased his production on both ends from a year ago while also becoming more efficient. He averages 24 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 4.0 blocks while shooting 47.2\/35.8\/84.9. In addition, he has produced 23 double-doubles and one triple-double.<\/p>\n

However, one can imagine that the 21-year-old will only continue to grow with the addition of Fox. Fox is an electric point guard who can change gears with the best guards in the league. While the 27-year-old is known for scoring, he is an excellent ball-handler and distributor, though he can sometimes get careless. Perhaps more importantly for the young Spurs, he is one of the top clutch players in the league, a pesky on-ball defender, and a leader.<\/p>\n

Fox does not shoot it well from deep but finishes well at the basket and excels in pick-n-rolls. The Spurs have struggled in those situations with the ball-handler, although they have several efficient rollers. Wemby is an outstanding screener and loves pick-n-pop situations, so this seems to be a pairing made for heaven.<\/p>\n

Fox is under contract for just one more season, though he is expected to sign a long-term extension with the Spurs. San Antonio was reportedly his preferred destination, as his wife is from there.<\/p>\n

Spurs Trade Grade: A+<\/h4>\n

San Antonio gets its franchise point guard without having to give up any of its core pieces. The Spurs did surrender three first-rounders, but they still potentially have three to use in 2025 (at least two, as the one from Chicago may not convey as it is top-10 protected). They still have nine first-round selections between 2025 and 2031 and 15 second-round selections.<\/p>\n

Losing Jones hurts a little, though that sting is mitigated by Chris Paul’s<\/a> move into the backup point guard role. Besides, McLaughlin is capable of doing what Jones does and is probably a better shooter.<\/p>\n

San Antonio has 14 players on standard contracts and is over $9 million under the tax. So, expect the Spurs to make another roster move, most likely via trade, though going the free agent route is a possibility. Adding a backup center is likely a priority. Charles Bassey<\/a> presumably will fill that role for now, though Jeremy Sochan<\/a> and Sandro Mamukelashvilli<\/a> can also play the five.<\/p>\n

What Does The Trade Mean For The Kings?<\/h3>\n

While Sacramento didn’t have to trade Fox before the trade deadline, the Kings couldn’t have done much better than they did with the haul. Dallas didn’t get any first-rounders for Luka Doncic,<\/a> and the Kings got three, including the Hornets, this year. There is a caveat to the 2025 first-rounder from the Hornets; if that top-14 pick doesn’t convey, which is likely, the Kings will receive Charlotte’s 2026 and 2027 second-round selection instead.<\/p>\n

Granted, the Kings have played better under Doug Christie<\/a>, but they sit 10th in the conference, and their position is tenuous at best. Although he is not Fox, LaVine is a talented scorer and capable playmaker. He is also an elite shot-creator and shooter, though shot selection is an issue for the 29-year-old.<\/p>\n

LaVine is versatile enough to play any of the three backcourt positions. But he figures to see most of the time at shooting guard, where he hides defensively. Malik Monk<\/a> is better suited to play the one when paired with LaVine.<\/p>\n

By sending out three players and bringing back just two, the Kings have just 13 players on standard deals. Cissoko doesn’t figure to have a role with the team this year; his inclusion in the trade was likely more for next season. With the Kings under the tax, expect them to fill the two spots with cheap options via trade or free agents. They will have until the all-star break to sign a 14th player to a standard contract if they choose to do so.<\/p>\n

Don’t be surprised if the Kings look to trade Trey Lyles<\/a>, Doug McDermott<\/a>, Alex Len<\/a>, or Doug McDermott.<\/a> However, the Kings may go into full retool mode as they decide to protect their 2025 draft pick. since the Charlotte pick likely won’t be conveyed this year.<\/p>\n

Sacramento could decide to wait until the offseason and look to make a splashy trade. The Kings, who only have eight players under contract for next season, have seven first-rounders from 2027 through 2031.<\/p>\n

Trade Grade: B+<\/h5>\n

What Does The Trade Mean For The Bulls?<\/h3>\n

On a positive note for Chicago, the Bulls moved on from LaVine, which they have been looking to do for the past few seasons. They also created cap flexibility for years to come.<\/p>\n

However, Chicago will have to make a couple of roster moves before the trade can be finalized. With the additions of the players, the Bulls have 20 players on standard contracts. The Bulls essentially have two options: They can trade another player\u2014like Nikola Vucevic<\/a>, Lonzo Ball<\/a>, or someone else\u2014or buy out someone. They could flip Huerter, Collins, or Jones but can’t aggregate those players with someone else.<\/p>\n

Chicago is $4.8 million below the luxury tax and $9.4 million from being hard-capped. So, the Bulls could decide to go the buyout way. In that case, Ball, Jones, Chris Duarte<\/a>, Talen Horton-Tucker<\/a>, Jevon Carter<\/a>, and Torrey Craig<\/a> as prime candidates.<\/p>\n

Depending on what the Bulls do between now and the trade deadline, they project to have $28 million of cap space available this summer. Therefore, don’t expect them to take on much salary with any trade. Not only did they clear salary cap space with the trade, but Chicago assured themselves of having a first-round pick. The Bulls could have been forced to send it to San Antonio if they didn’t get it back (the pick was originally top-10 protected).<\/p>\n

Grade: B<\/p>\n

Photo Courtesy of \u00a9 Alonzo Adams Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another surprising big NBA trade is underway, with De’Aaron Fox headed to San Antonio to give Victor Wembanyama his first true co-star. According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, this trade is a three-teamer involving the Spurs, Sacramento Kings, and Chicago Bulls. Per Charania, the details of the seven-player trade include seven draft picks. NBA Trade Grades: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":121631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,8,2,62,29,34],"tags":[664,1382,457],"class_list":["post-121618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-featured","category-nba","category-kings","category-spurs","tag-deaaron-fox","tag-nba-trade","tag-zach-lavine"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121618"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":121632,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121618\/revisions\/121632"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}