Should the Sacramento Kings trade Bogdan Bogdanovic before deadline?

The Sacramento Kings have not had the season they hoped for, should they be looking to trade Bogdan Bogdanovic?

The 2019-20 season has not gone according to plan for the Sacramento Kings. They are 13th in the Western Conference with a 16-29 record. They have started removing pieces of the team to gain cap flexibility for next season.

Trevor Ariza, who was in the first of a two-year deal, was traded with Wenyen Gabriel and Caleb Swanigan to the Portland Trail Blazers for Kent Bazemore and Anthony Tolliver, both of who are on expiring contracts. This has to be the start of next season’s planning.

These Kings have two of their young core coming off their rookie deals in the next two years. Bogdan Bogdanovic is a free agent next season and De’Aaron Fox is a free agent the season after. Thanks to the Harrison Barnes contract, the Kings’ hands are a little tied when it comes to cap space.

Does this then bring us to the question of should the Kings trade Bogdanovic? The third-year guard has played in 35 games this season, 34 off the bench. He started the last game in what can only be described as a surprise move.

The Kings benched Buddy Hield for the start of the Chicago Bulls game, incidentally, a game Sacramento won.

https://twitter.com/LeaderOfHorde/status/1185674541126705152?s=20

This had a big impact on the result of the game, not just the new Kings’ starting line up. Hield is the closest thing to a star the Kings have. Before the Bulls game, Hield had five games out of six where he has shot below 30 percent from deep.

This is the second stretch of the season where he has shot poorly, the first stretch was during November when he went seven games out of nine where he shot less than 30 percent. He was not benched then when the season could be saved so there could be an ulterior motive this time.

With the trade deadline approaching fast, the Kings could be showcasing the talent of Bogdanovic to get something back from him. As mentioned earlier, he’s off his contract at the end of the season.

The problem for the Kings is Bogdanovic is an accomplished shooting guard. He is averaging 13.2 points, 3.5 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 steals in just 29.0 minutes per game.

He is also playing the sixth man role on an unsuccessful team, whereas another franchise might view him as a missing piece.

He is going to be offered good money and potentially a starting role with more successful teams. With the free agency class being fairly thin on talent, Bogdanovic is going to be a fairly hot commodity several teams would love to bring in.

He will know there is no way that he is replacing Hield in the starting line up unless it comes via injury or wildly unexpected trade. Hield is also in the first year of his four year, $94 million contract. The Kings are not going to be able to offer Bogdanovic enough money to stay as a reserve.

The Kings need to trade Bogdanovic to get some assets back. Otherwise, they run the real risk of losing him for nothing.