The Sacramento Kings struck a deal with the Toronto Raptors on Thursday before the second round of the NBA draft began. In what appears to be a cost-cutting move, the Kings are trading Davion Mitchell, Sasha Vezenkov, the 45th overall pick in the draft and Portland’s 2025 second-round pick to the Raptors for Jalen McDaniels, a league source told The Sacramento Bee.
The trade was first reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. ESPN’s Bobby Marks noted the deal gets the Kings $7 million under the luxury tax and opens a roster spot. McDaniels, 26, is a 6-foot-9, 190-pound power forward who came out of San Diego State as the 52nd overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft. He has averaged 6.9 points and 3.3 rebounds over five seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers and Raptors. McDaniels is entering the second year of a two-year, $9.3 million contract. He is owed $4.7 million in 2024-25.
Mitchell departs after coming to Sacramento as the No. 9 pick in the 2021 draft. He averaged 7.4 points and 2.8 assists over three seasons. Vezenkov signed a three-year, $20 million contract with the Kings last summer after being named EuroLeague MVP. He averaged 5.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game.
Spotrac’s Keith Smith noted the Kings are now $7.3 million under the luxury tax line, $14.7 million under the first tax apron and $25.5 million under the second apron, giving them “lots of wiggle room to do whatever else they need to do this summer.”
The Kings also took the first step toward clearing up a logjam in the backcourt after selecting Providence guard Devin Carter with the No. 13 pick in the draft. That selection left Sacramento with a full stable of guards with Carter joining De’Aaron Fox, Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter, Keon Ellis, Colby Jones and Mitchell. Kings general manager Monte McNair hinted at the possibility of trades when asked about the logjam at the guard position.
“We understand the importance of roster balance, not just across positions but skillsets,” McNair said. “We’re at the beginning of the offseason where we’ll be able to continue to shape the roster, but as I’ve continually said about the draft, the draft is not about right now. The draft is about adding somebody to our team that can be here for a long time and we try to draft the best player available.
“We look for versatile guys and I Devin Carter just checks all the boxes. If you watched the playoffs this year, there were a lot of Devin Carters out there. I’ll put it that way. We try to find tough, physical guys who can play on both ends, make a shot, score the ball, switch, guard guys, rebound. A guy like that we couldn’t pass up. We understand the rest of the roster and what we’ll have to do there, but tonight was about that.”
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