{"id":122163,"date":"2025-02-05T17:25:19","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T22:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=122163"},"modified":"2025-02-05T17:25:19","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T22:25:19","slug":"sacramento-kings-trade-reunite-demar-derozan-jonas-valanciunas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/05\/sacramento-kings-trade-reunite-demar-derozan-jonas-valanciunas\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings Make Trade, Reunite DeMar DeRozan With Past Teammate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/31\/kings-turned-down-trade-jazz-john-collins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Sacramento King<\/a>s already made a notable deal ahead of this year&#8217;s trade deadline. However, it looks like they are not done just yet. Less than a week ago, the Kings shipped <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/foxde01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-05_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De&#8217;Aaron Fox<\/a> out to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/05\/deaaron-fox-expected-to-make-spurs-debut-against-hawks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">San Antonio Spurs<\/a> and landed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lavinza01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-05_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach LaVine<\/a> from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/04\/chicago-bulls-not-eager-move-top-trade-candidate-lonzo-ball\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Chicago Bulls<\/a>. By making this trade, the Kings reunited LaVine with his former Bulls teammate, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/derozde01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-05_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DeMar DeRozan<\/a>. Now, the Kings have reunited DeRozan with another past teammate&#8211;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/v\/valanjo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-05_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jonas Valanciunas<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>According to ESPN&#8217;s Shams Charania, the Kings acquired Valanciunas from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/05\/bucks-and-wizards-trade-former-nba-champions\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Washington Wizards<\/a>. In return, the Wizards got the recently-acquired <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cissosi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-05_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sidy Cissoko<\/a> and two second-round picks.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The Washington Wizards are trading Jonas Valanciunas to the Sacramento Kings for Sidy Cissoko and two second-round picks, sources tell ESPN.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1887259001332899894?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Valanciunas and DeRozan were teammates for six years with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/03\/raptors-backcourt-trade-beyond-border\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Toronto Raptors<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Sacramento Kings Trade for Jonas Valanciunas from the Washington Wizards<\/h2>\n<h3>Jonas Valanciunas Was A Top Trade Candidate<\/h3>\n<p>In the offseason, Valanciunas signed a three-year, $30.3 million contract to join the Wizards. The deal was a bit of a shock at the time. Immediately, many expected him to be traded during the season. Before joining the Kings, numerous teams had reported interest in Valanciunas. This mostly includes the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/05\/austin-reaves-lakers-kobe-bryant\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/05\/knicks-shouldnt-consider-kevin-durant-trade\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">New York Knicks<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/05\/suns-warriors-trade-kevin-durant-no-desire\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Phoenix Suns<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On the year, Valanciunas appeared in 49 games for Washington, starting 12 of them. In those games, he averaged 11.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. He also shot 54.7% from the field.<\/p>\n<p>This is already the second trade the Wizards made on Wednesday. Earlier in the day, they traded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kuzmaky01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-05_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Kuzma<\/a> to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/02\/05\/bucks-blockbuster-kyle-kuzma-khris-middleton-trade-iffy\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Milwaukee Bucks<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/middlkh01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-05_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Khris Middleton<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>What Jonas Valanciunas Brings to Sacramento<\/h3>\n<p>The Lithuanian native is in the midst of his 13th season and brings a veteran presence with him to the Kings. Additionally, he is still a capable big man and can offer value on offense and as a rebounder. With the Kings in particular, he will provide solid depth behind <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sabondo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-02-05_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Domantas Sabonis<\/a>. He is a low-risk, high-reward acquisition for the Kings, especially given their standing in the league.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, the Kings are 25-24 and own the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. However, after trading Fox, the team could be in line for a bit of a slump. While acquiring Valanciunas is far from a game-changer, it is still a solid move to bolster their roster ahead of the All-Star break<\/p>\n<p>With the trade deadline less than 24 hours away, the Kings remain a team to monitor.<\/p>\n<p>Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Sacramento Kings already made a notable deal ahead of this year&#8217;s trade deadline. However, it looks like they are not done just yet. Less than a week ago, the Kings shipped De&#8217;Aaron Fox out to the San Antonio Spurs and landed Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls. By making this trade, the Kings reunited [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":121154,"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":[1608,2,62,3,29],"tags":[350,167],"class_list":["post-122163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-nba","category-news","category-kings","tag-demar-derozan","tag-jonas-valanciunas"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122163","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\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122164,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122163\/revisions\/122164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}