Latest news with #ZachLaVine
Forbes
6 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
If Kings Are To Trade Sabonis, Identifying Playmaker Is Crucial
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - APRIL 16: (R-L) DeMar DeRozan #10, Domantas Sabonis #11, and Zach LaVine #8 ... More of the Sacramento Kings sit on the bench at the end of the game in their loss to the Dallas Mavericks in othe NBA play-in tournament game at Golden 1 Center on April 16, 2025 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by) For years, the Chicago Bulls miscast Zach LaVine as a number one option, despite a lack of on-ball creation which is ultimately necessary for such a role. Despite being overburdened with such a role, LaVine routinely put up huge offensive volume, on elite efficiency, signaling that he may be even better when playing off of someone else. As he arrived in Sacramento, as a component in the De'Aaron Fox trade, he was put next to Domantas Sabonis and former Bulls teammate DeMar DeRozan. While he performed well after the trade, questions about his role linger. Sabonis is openly considering all options this summer. When the organization traded away Fox, after having already shrunk the floor by acquiring DeRozan in the summer, the Lithuanian big man realized the roster was in a state of flux. If goes without saying that any Sabonis departure would likely result in a ripple effect that ultimately has LaVine traded to another team, or right back in the first option role he shouldn't be in. As such, for the Kings, the organization need to be keenly aware of this, should Sabonis request a trade. If they have aspirations of making a real dent in the Western Conference, an organizational pecking order will have to be established, and one that makes sense for them, as well as LaVine given he's now 30 and doesn't have all the time in the world anymore. LaVine being as costly as he is ($47.5 million next season) means he's worth much more as a player than as a trade asset for the Kings. Therefore, if Sabonis is to be moved, identifying a real playmaker has to be the main priority, for a multitude of reasons. As good as Malik Monk has been for the Kings, his on-ball creation advancements simply haven't made it so far as to justify him as the long-term solution at point guard. Of course, the Kings have to ponder if Sabonis can fetch an elite playmaker of some sort, as the big man comes with holes in his game as well, most of which centers around his lack of rim protection. Whatever offers they get on Sabonis, taking on role players, or players in need of being assisted at a high rate, should be of less priority, unless they wish to see LaVine handle the ball more than ever before. That won't do him, or them, any favors. Unless noted otherwise, all stats via PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bulls Path to Kristaps Porzingis Pursuit Becoming Clear
The Chicago Bulls desperately need to choose a direction. The dumping face of the franchise, Zach LaVine, appeared to be a signal from the front office that they were committed to acquiring some more ping pong balls to improve their standing in the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. The club promptly finished 17-10 after the All-Star break, before getting crushed in the Play-In to further their place in basketball mediocrity. Chicago has just a 1.7% chance of landing the Duke phenom and picking outside of the top ten. Re-signing Josh Giddey and prioritizing the development of Matas Buzelis are obvious next moves, but this roster is stuck in neutral and needs a shakeup. Could the Boston Celtics' recent postseason struggles open the door for acquiring a dominant big and long-range sniper? Kristaps PorzingisGetty Images Even if the Celtics make a miraculous comeback against the Knicks and eventually return to the NBA Finals, the team is in financial peril. They are substantially over the second apron and need to shed salary fast. The new ownership group, led by William Chisolm, shared a reluctance to split the group up, but the lucrative tax penalties are likely too substantial to ignore. Advertisement Chicago could exploit Boston's vulnerable state and try to pry away Kristaps Porzingis. The 29-year-old has a lengthy injury history, but when he's on the floor, there are few more dominant post presences in the game on both ends. His shooting from distance opens up the offense, and his ability to shuffle his feet at his size provides elite rim protection. Since the Bulls would be doing Boston a favor, they could also land some much-needed depth in the form of Sam Hauser. He is one of the purest shooters in the league and can hold his own guarding the ball against similarly sized wings. They could maybe even swindle Baylor Scheierman, who progressed rapidly and had some impressive showings for the current champs. A third team would have to be involved to eat Nikola Vucevic's contract—potentially the Nets if they fail to land Flagg. They have plenty of room to take on the disastrous deal, can acquire some picks for their troubles, and continue to tank with eyes on incoming freshman AJ Dybantsa or Darryn Peterson. Advertisement The Celtics would almost certainly want to keep their championship window open and be willing to give up extra capital for Cam Johnson. He slides right in to fit their scheme and drops Brooklyn's floor even more to pave the way for young players to get increased minutes. They'd presumably need to make another move to further cut costs, but it's a great start. A potential framework (without picks) would look something like this: ESPN's Trade Machine This not only helps the Bulls' youth movement but also maximizes the five spot. If Porzingis is healthy, the club can easily compete for a seven or an eight seed, and if he's not, it just allows younger players to get more shine with the hopes of eventually getting better odds in the lottery. Advertisement Related: Bulls Big Man Zach Collins Says His Teammate 'Could Be More Selfish' Related: Chicago Bulls Must Trade Nikola Vucevic in the Offseason, And This is the Perfect Move
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
New Kings GM Reveals Goal For Team After Disappointing Season
The Sacramento Kings are preparing to usher in a new era after it was announced that general manager Monte McNair and owner Vivek Ranadive have agreed to part ways. On Wednesday, the Kings held a press conference to introduce Scott Perry as their new GM. Advertisement Perry has experience working under Joe Dumars and, most famously, helped assemble a roster that won the 2004 NBA Championship. Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine (8) looks on during the first quarter against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Miron-Imagn Images New Kings GM reveals goal Back in 2017, Perry was hired by the Kings to be their vice president of operations. Eight years to the day later, Perry was hired by the Kings as general manager after a sting with the New York Knicks in the same role. The Kings finished this past season as the No. 10 seed in a loaded Western Conference. They fell to the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Play-In Tournament. With a new general manager, hopefully comes a new direction. Perry was up front with his hopes and expectations in this role. Advertisement "The goal here is to build a sustainable winner," said Perry. Some were surprised that the Kings still made the playoffs after trading away De'Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs. While the Kings got Zach LaVine back as part of the three-team deal, it was a peculiar choice to pair him back up with DeMar DeRozan, given the apparent peaks and limitations they showed during their time with the Chicago Bulls. The Kings have little to no chance at landing the top pick in the upcoming NBA Draft Lottery at just 0.8%. Unfortunately, there might not be much change between next year's team and what we saw this season. LaVine is due $47.5 million next season and has a player option for nearly $49 million the next season. DeRozan, Domantas Sabonis, Malik Monk and Keegan Murray are all also under contract for next season. Will Perry attempt a wholesale change, or keep going down the same path?
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Now that the Bulls' season is over, what can they look forward to?
Now that the Bulls' season is over, what can they look forward to? The Chicago Bulls' season predictably ended Wednesday night in the play-in, where the Miami Heat kicked the Bulls in the teeth, and that's all she wrote on a season that proved consistently inconsistent, with no sign of an organizational path forward. The team did trade former All-Star Zach LaVine at the deadline, deciding to empower offseason acquisition Josh Giddey and the already-established Coby White. The result was a modest bump in the dead months of March and April, as Bulls management seems ready to invest in Giddey after the Australian displayed numerous games with solid raw stats. Advertisement The Bulls failed to be proactive at the deadline with a major contractual issue involving White, who can leave as a free agent in 2026, meaning loads of questions will hover around the 6-foot-5 guy throughout next season. The Bulls' Nikola Vučević and Josh Giddey saw their season come to an end against the Miami Heat at the United Center on Wednesday. (Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) One player who is under contract long term is former lottery pick Patrick Williams, who signed a five-year deal last offseason worth $90 million. The 6-8 forward responded to that vote of confidence by averaging nine points and 3.8 rebounds and connecting on 39.7% of his shots, making it difficult for the Bulls to pivot off him this summer. Unsurprisingly, Chicago played itself back into mediocrity, and that's despite a much-improved shot-profile that saw the Bulls take more 3s than any other point in its franchise history and generally play a more modern style of offensive basketball. Advertisement Now the focus shifts to the offseason, which could prove to be just as challenging, given that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnišovas believes Chicago's future should consist of having "nine to 10 very good players" while downplaying the need for a real franchise-altering star. Good luck with that. 2024-25 record: 39-43 Highlight of the season The play of rookie Matas Buzelis, who has genuine star upside. The 6-10 forward is utterly fearless, wildly athletic and proved to be a much better shooter than originally believed. Biggest offseason need Let's not beat around the bush. Chicago's unorthodox plan — if you can even call it that — has no merit in reality, so the biggest need for the Bulls this offseason is change. Change in ownership, who keeps empowering weak front offices. Change in management, which lacks any sense of progressive creativity. Change in every branch of the organizational tree is drastically needed. Projected draft picks (pre-lottery) Nos. 13 and 45 Draft focus The Bulls got a good one in Buzelis, and now the mission should be obvious: add another player of similar quality to pair with the explosive forward. The draft is the one place where lottery luck could force their hand into a full-on rebuild, which is very much needed. The Bulls simply aren't in a position to allow themselves to think about players with specific skill sets in the draft. They just need talent, full stop. Key free agents Josh Giddey (RFA) Advertisement Tre Jones (UFA) Salary-cap breakdown The Bulls are historically great at avoiding the luxury tax and are in a potentially interesting situation in regards to Giddey, who is likely to ask for the moon after accumulating seven triple-doubles on the season. Can the Bulls afford a deal in the $30 million-a-year range, while still hanging onto Williams, Nikola Vučević and Lonzo Ball, only to go into 2026 needing to offer White a deal that's likely going to start in the $35 million-a-year range? Eventually, something's gotta give if the organization wishes to avoid the tax once again. Next season's goal Another round of exciting NBA play-in competition? Kidding aside, the Bulls are likely to attempt the impossible, which is to build from the middle, so the goal will be to identify hidden value in every external acquisition to optimize their own path toward a genuine playoff berth in 2026. Unfortunately for the Bulls, there are much smarter front offices out there that will likely spot value players long before they make it onto Chicago's radar. Have a seat, Bulls fans. You could be in for a few years of deafening mediocrity.
Miami Herald
12-04-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Kings can earn home play-in game with win over Suns
The Sacramento Kings close the regular season at home on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns with a guaranteed place in the Western Conference play-in -- but with their seeding still up in the air. Sacramento (39-42) will face Dallas in the play-in, but still to be determined is which team will host. The Kings and Mavericks have the same record, but Sacramento holds the tiebreaker for ninth place and home-court advantage. A win on Sunday against Phoenix (36-45) guarantees the Kings the No. 9 seed, while a Sacramento loss with a Dallas win at Memphis relegates the Kings to No. 10. A two-game losing skid landed Sacramento in this scenario, after the Kings had run off three straight wins on the road. They returned home to drop a 124-116 decision to Denver on Wednesday and a 101-100 setback on Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers. Zach LaVine scored 10 points in the final 3:39 and DeMar DeRozan had a look at a would-be game-winning 3-pointer, but it was no good. "To look forward, our physicality was really good, especially defensively," Sacramento's Keegan Murray said following Friday's loss. "If we take that into every game, we'll have a chance." Sacramento ranks in the upper-third of the league in scoring offense at 115.8 points per game but in the lower-third defensively at 115.5 points surrendered per contest. The Kings held Los Angeles to 101 points for the team's lowest yield since limiting Dallas to 98 points in a 24-point rout on March 3. On Sunday, Sacramento looks to continue that defensive pace against a Phoenix team playing without leading scorer Kevin Durant. Suns coach Mike Budenholzer told reporters on Friday that Durant, averaging 26.6 points per game, will sit out Sunday's contest. Phoenix is eliminated from postseason contention, marking the organization's first time missing the playoffs since 2020. The Suns endured a disappointing campaign with Bradley Beal, who's coming off performances of 25 points against Oklahoma City on Wednesday and 21 points in Friday's win over San Antonio but has only appeared in 53 games. Sunday will mark Durant's 20th missed game of the season, and midseason acquisition Nick Richards has been sidelined the last two games with an elbow injury. "It's disheartening. Nobody's more pissed off about it than we are as a team," Beal said Friday following the 117-98 win over the Spurs, which snapped an eight-game Suns skid. "But we know Mat (Ishiba) is going to demand changes." Rumors flying for weeks about potential personnel and staff moves have accompanied Phoenix's dismal finish. The Suns are 11-23 since Feb. 1. Among the few wins Phoenix has recorded in that time, however, is its only defeat of Sacramento in three matchups this season. The Suns won a 122-106 decision on March 14 behind 22 points each from Devin Booker and Durant, and 20 points off the bench from Tyus Jones. Sacramento's Malik Monk, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in the previous meeting with Phoenix, sustained an injured calf in the Kings' 127-117 win at Detroit on Sunday. Monk was sidelined for the two losses this week and will miss Sunday's regular-season finale. --Field Level Media Field Level Media 2023 - All Rights Reserved
