With pressure on new coach Mike Brown — and the front office led by GM Monte McNair — to end Sacramento’s historic playoff drought, there has been an expectation around the league the Kings were open for business with the No. 4 pick in the draft.
If the Kings can get an All-Star or high-quality rotation player who can provide depth alongside De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis and help them win now, while moving back in the draft, that might be an offer difficult to turn down.
Now comes word from long-time Kings reporter James Ham that Sacramento will indeed listen to offers for the No. 4 pick.
It is expected that Jabari Smith, Chet Holmgren and Paolo Banchero — three big men who would fit the Kings’ needs — will be the first three picks in the draft. While Ham says the Kings would be open to moving up to select one of them, the cost likely would be too steep (a top-five protected first-round pick next season, at a minimum).
Jaden Ivey, the point guard out of Purdue, is the player taken fourth on most mock drafts. Maybe a team in need of a point guard — especially one with the ceiling of Ivey — will pay to move up and give the Kings the veteran they want.
The 2022 NBA Draft really starts with the Kings at No. 4 — we know what’s happening with the top three picks by the Magic, Thunder and Rockets (at least we know what three players will be off the board). At No. 4, the doors swing open and anything could happen.
