It has to be hard being a fan of the Sacramento Kings. Baffling move after baffling move seems to sabotage a team with a loyal yet tortured fan base, with one recent move already coming back to haunt them. In the summer of 2023, the Kings completed a 3-way sign and trade with the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs, where they received DeMar DeRozan.
In exchange, they shipped veteran Harrison Barnes and a 2031 pick swap to the Spurs to make the salaries work. That trade has turned into a disaster for the Kings. Who would have thought that Barnes would play so well for the Spurs?
HARRISON BARNES AND A KINGS 2031 PICK SWAP FOR NOTHING.
— Zach (@ZachNBA_) November 19, 2025
Brian Wright 🫡
He has started more than 90 games since being in San Antonio and has been a flawless fit next to superstar Victor Wembanyama. After all, his size at 6'8" and shooting ability have made him the perfect stretch four.
Last season, he drilled a career-high 43.3% from three, and he even won NBA Player of the Week for November 18-24, 2024. This season, he has been as impactful, shooting 48.6% from deep and even recently putting the Memphis Grizzlies into an early hibernation.
HARRISON BARNES SCORES 7 STRAIGHT.
— NBA (@NBA) November 19, 2025
DE'AARON FOX WITH THE FILTHY WINDMILL SLAM.
SPURS END THE GAME ON AN 11-0 RUN TO SEAL W. pic.twitter.com/qxo37dDpLd
He scored seven straight points in crunch time to seal a Spurs win, with them missing three of their four best players. If Barnes' resurgence weren't enough to irritate Kings fans, he recently dropped 20 points against Sacramento.
Meanwhile, fellow former Kings player De'Aaron Fox had 28 when the two teams faced off on November 16th. Fox playing well next to Barnes has to remind Kings fans what they're missing, and that doesn't even include the 2031 pick swap.
The Harrison Barnes trade is a disaster for the Sacramento Kings
The Kings have missed the playoffs all but once in the past 25 years and appear poised to do so again this season. This makes the Kings' decision to trade a 2031 pick swap to the Spurs to offload Barnes baffling.
That pick could absolutely be a lottery pick, a high one even with the selection being far enough out that there is a chance that none of the Kings' current players are even on the team come 2031. That likely means an inevitable rebuild, and the Kings wasted pick after pick during their 16-year playoff drought, seldom finding gems in the draft.
If the Spurs are one of the best teams in the NBA in 2031, and the Kings are one of the worst, the Kings would have traded a lottery pick for an aging DeRozan. Yikes.
That underscores just how awful the Barnes trade was for the Kings, who currently have a disjointed roster and little means to improve. Hopefully, they will learn from their mistakes, or they could be paying for them come 2031.