The Sacramento Kings are rumored to be looking into trade possibilities for Atlanta Hawks point guard Jeremy Lin.
On Tuesday, Marc Stein of The New York Times reported that the Sacramento Kings are one of the teams that have “expressed exploratory trade interest” in Jeremy Lin, Trae Young‘s backup on the Atlanta Hawks.
With this news, it is safe to assume that the Kings are looking to improve their point guard rotation prior to the trade deadline. They have Frank Mason III and Yogi Ferrell to take the reins once De’Aaron Fox heads to the bench, but both do a subpar job. Trading for Jeremy Lin would show that the Kings are dedicated to ending their NBA-leading 12-year playoff drought.
Lin would be an improvement over both Ferrell and Mason and would give the Kings an even better shot at the postseason, even if he isn’t what he was from February to March 2012, during the period of time known as “Linsanity”.
The Knicks signed him to be a back up to their aging point guard duo of Baron Davis and Mike Bibby. After a rough stretch where the Knicks won two of 13 games, Lin was given a chance. From Feb. 4 to March 21, 2012, Jeremy Lin ascended from his averages of the previous season of 2.6 points and 1.4 assists up to 19.2 points and 8.0 assists per game.
This put Lin on the map and since then, he’s landed gigs with the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets and now the Atlanta Hawks. The Sacramento Kings could be the next team on this list. Here are three trades they could make for Jeremy Lin.
Trade No. 3
Considering the Atlanta Hawks’ current record, Jeremy Lin’s expiring contract, and their overall situation, the Kings probably won’t have to give up too much for the 30-year-old point guard with a recent injury history. This trade would help the Kings by bringing in a great backup point guard in exchange for a lesser player at the same position in Yogi Ferrell.
The Hawks may be enticed to pull the trigger on this trade, as Ferrell is a legitimate option to back up Trae Young and is better than their other options of Tyler Dorsey and Jaylen Adams. Ferrell’s young age of 25 would also fit in great with Atlanta’s youth-based rebuild.
Zach Randolph, who proved that he is still a viable option at the power forward position last season, has not seen any minutes this season. If traded to the Hawks, it’s unknown if Randolph would be devoid of minutes, get playing time, or get bought out.
Atlanta’s power forward rotation has some bright, young prospects like John Collins and Omari Spellman, who would get priority over Randolph when it comes to playing time. However, the Hawks have shown flexibility when giving minutes to veterans. Vince Carter will be 42 years old by the end of January and head coach Lloyd Pierce still works him into the rotation for regular minutes. If Z-Bo joined their team, perhaps Pierce could cut out a few minutes for him as well.
Trade No. 2
Marc Stein of The New York Times reported that along with Jeremy Lin, the Hawks are also exploring trade options for Kent Bazemore and Dewayne Dedmon.
The Hawks are known to have made the veteran point guard Lin, big man Dewayne Dedmon and swingman Kent Bazemore available in advance of the Feb. 7 trade deadline in search of more draft picks.
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 15, 2019
This primes the Kings to make a big move to propel the team toward playoff berth. With a glaring hole at the small forward position, the Kings could make a trade for both Jeremy Lin and Kent Bazemore.
As stated, Jeremy Lin will put the Kings in position to earn a playoff spot. Kent Bazemore is a 3-and-D swingman that would fill the biggest hole in Sacramento’s roster. Bogdan Bogdanovic has been very effective off the bench for Sacramento, and with the potential acquisition of Bazemore, they could keep it that way.
So far this season, Bazemore has set his new career high in scoring at 14.0 points per game. He is ranked 10th among all NBA players in steals per game at 1.7 per outing. He isn’t exactly a sharpshooter, as he is shooting only 32.7 percent from 3-point territory this season, but he still shot 39.4 percent from deep last year.
The Kings would be losing two young players and two veterans. Like Yogi Ferrell, Justin Jackson‘s youth would fit in great with Atlanta’s rebuild. Taurean Waller-Prince is their current starter at the 3, but Justin Jackson could fit in well as a backup. Sacramento might need to think about adding a future first round pick in a deal like this.
Trade No. 1
The Atlanta Hawks will more than likely be interested in soaking up any picks they can in any potential deal.
Again, Ferrell would be a good, young backup for Trae Young with some upside. Ben McLemore is unlikely to ever live up to his comparisons he received in college to Ray Allen, but maybe he can contribute to a different team. He was drafted by the Kings in 2013, left them in 2017 free agency, but was traded back to them in the 2018 offseason. Maybe this time he can get away from the Kings without being dragged back in.
Kostas Koufos has been relatively underrated in his tenure with the Kings. Since joining the team in 2015, Koufos has average nearly six points and six rebounds per night as one of their plethora of backup centers in recent seasons. The pick value of the 2020 Sacramento second round pick may be drawn into question, but they might stumble upon a second round steal.
Acquiring Jeremy Lin has the potential of pushing the Kings over the edge into making the playoffs, but an equally interesting piece of this trade’s return is swingman DeAndre’ Bembry. In the midst of a career season, Bembry is averaging 8.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. That, combined with only being 24 years old, puts Bembry in the right age range to fit in with Sacramento’s core.
You might think that since he is having the best season of his short career, Atlanta would be hesitant to trade him. However, the Hawks have a minor logjam at the small forward position. Taurean Waller-Prince, Justin Anderson, Vince Carter, Kent Bazmore and Daniel Hamilton are all competing for minutes too. Bembry is the third-best of the listed players, which would make him less valuable than he might be on another team.
If the Kings have a chance to get both Jeremy Lin and a small forward like Bembry before the deadline, they would be primed to make the playoffs and would put themselves on the map in the process. Once again though, Atlanta may push for a first round pick here.