Let's face it: the 2024-25 season hasn't gone well for the Sacramento Kings. In stark contrast to Brandon Sanderson's 1,000-page Way of Kings novel, the greater NBA refuses to acknowledge Sac-town's nobility and has successfully defied the purple-clad, Northern California-based franchise 22 times. This season has not gone the way of the Kings.
As we stand, the Kings fill in the 10th spot in the Western Conference standings. They are the awkward unpopped kernels at the bottom of the popcorn bag. Sure, that butter-soaked, mindless snacking episode was enjoyable, but here we close with an unsatisfying conclusion. Popcorn yet remains but in an inedible state.
The Sacramento Kings have been all corn, no pop. And that's a shame.
For a franchise and fanbase that has suffered so greatly over the last two decades, an All-NBA tandem of De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis breathed life into the dormant flame within Kings fans everywhere. The Kings were flashy, fast, and exciting.
With every win, they lit a massive laser beam into space and pierced the cosmos. In a few million years, aliens will see a purple light appear from the heavens and say, "Oh great, I needed a Kings W for my parlay."
Those days are now a faint memory—a shadow of what once had been. Today's Kings have grown stale, directionless, and without a plan. This reality was confirmed when a Shams report confirmed that De'Aaron Fox was officially on the trade block for the February 6th NBA trade deadline.
JUST IN: The Sacramento Kings are expected to open up talks to potentially deal All-Star De'Aaron Fox ahead of Feb. 6 trade deadline, sources tell ESPN. There will be plenty of suitors, but it's believed that Fox has a target destination in mind ahead of 2026 free agency. pic.twitter.com/Oh3fXgZjm3
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 28, 2025
A world without Fox on the Kings would feed awkward, strange. Like Tony Parker on the Hornets or Hakeem on the Raptors. For years, Fox and the Kings were nearly synonymous as this young point guard on the rise. But Sacramento is clearly set on pursuing a fresh start, a pivot on their original plan, a future without De'Aaron Fox.
But that doesn't mean they're just going to give Fox up for nothing. This is a hot commodity, and the Kings have the only remaining product in the world. Simply put, obtaining De'Aaron Fox will be very difficult for potential suitors.