His Trade Market Just Completely Changed...

We've been hearing DeMontis and Sabonis trade rumors for about a year now at this point. And for most of that time, the Toronto Raptors were really the only suitor where we were expected DeMontis and Sabonis to land. But over the past 24 hours, more teams have popped up according to Brett Siegel that are going to provide some serious competition in this hunt for the Kings big man. As Siegel reported, the Raptors, the Hornets, the Nets, and the Grizzlies are all expected to have varying levels of interest in Sabonis. So now it's becoming a race, and there's a few things that a lot of people are overlooking regarding this situation. As the Raptors should still be the favorites, they have exactly what the Sacramento Kings are looking for out there with draft picks. But if you're looking for the Raptors to land DeMontis Sabonis, and you want this trade to happen, there is one big worry, because the Raptors do lag behind in terms of what they offer contractually. Obviously, the Kings are not looking to win now. The team has had a devastating start to the season, and The interesting thing will be is what are they willing to bring back big contracts? How hesitant will they be looking at Jakub Poeltl, Emanuel Quickley's contracts out there on their books? Because when we look at the competitors in the race right now, they can make a solid offer for Sabonis, but also send back less money to the Kings. So given all this context, we'll break down whether or not the Toronto Raptors actually have the best offer for DeMontis Sabonis, or are these other teams going to be in a serious contention to lose the Toronto Raptors one of these options they have ahead of this year's trade deadline. So all of this starts with Sacramento, because the Kings are 1-7 right now. Sabonis is still putting up 15.1 points per game, 14.9 rebounds, and 6.1 assists a night, and shooting 68% from the field. He's currently owed $45.47 million this season and about $48 million next season, and then he becomes a free agent with no player option. So even though the per-year dollar amount is pretty significant, it's only two seasons, and that's why more and more teams are looking at acquiring DeMontis Sabonis. And the reality is, the Toronto Raptors still need a player like him. It's why they were so aggressive in trying to land him ahead of last year's trade deadline. The Raptors are 4-4 right now, they're 2-4 without Kawhi Leonard, and... The vibes around the team are feeling a little bit shaky, at least over the past few days. Kawhi Leonard's out with his knee issue, and the backup center, Nate Biddle, is out with a fractured foot. And Raptors fans are never really sure whether or not Jakub Poeltl's going to play, or if he's going to be off the bench, if he's out with injury, or if he's going to play defense that day. So bringing a guy that can average 14.9 rebounds a night would definitely be a boost on the defensive and offensive glass. But more teams are seeing that across the NBA, and the landscape for Sabonis trade is changing right now, as last month, Sam Amick reported that there wasn't a robust market out there for Domas. But even with the bad record, the landscape has changed as now four teams are in on the Kings center. And more and more teams are joining by the day, as just a couple days ago, Siegel said himself that the Toronto Raptors and the Charlotte Hornets were the two teams that had real trade talks for him last year, and that the interest has not gone away. Let's take a look at what these teams are actually able to offer because the quote varying levels of interest is doing a lot of work in this report. And we really have to dive deep in terms of figuring out who's actually got some pieces, who actually has the right packages to make a move with the Kings. So before we go team by team, we actually have to figure out what the Sacramento Kings are looking for in a Domantas Sabonis trade. Jake Fisher called the Kings asking Steve and Brett Siegel. What they wanted from the Charlotte Hornets last season included lottery picks, and that's with an S. They wanted multiple lottery picks from the Charlotte Hornets. They also told teams what they didn't want. They weren't interested in taking back Emmanuel Quickley's contract or Jakob Poeltl's. And that's a money angle a lot of people are missing in all this discourse regarding Sabonis. The Sacramento Kings are, despite their record, despite being a horrible team in the Western Conference, they are also hard capped, and their payroll is at $197 million. That's $3.1 million under the luxury tax for a team that is 1-7, and that matters a lot in terms of figuring out a trade that actually works. So on the Kings side of things, a perfect deal for Sabonis is a move that ends up bringing them back picks, young players, and less money coming back to the team than they're sending out. And we have to keep that list in our heads as we look at these different offers, as there's only really one team that checks all of those boxes. Let's first take a look at Charlotte, because they're the other team that has been mentioned most over the past year or so in terms of hunting for Domas. Last season, Mike Scotto reported that a framework of Miles Bridges, Josh Green, and a first round pick for Sabonis was the talking point, the start of those talks between the Hornets and the Kings. But then in June, when those talks started to be revitalized a little bit, they asked for pick 14 and pick 18 in the NBA draft, and Charlotte said no. Instead of Sabonis, they went out and got Naz Reid from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the LaMelo Ball trade. And one thing that is very important in all of this discourse, everything that's happening is the Charlotte Hornets were hoping to be competitive this year. Obviously, they dealt away LaMelo Ball, but everything that's come out from that front office is they believed in the group bringing in some veterans to take a little step forward this season. And they're 3-6 right now. They just lost to the Brooklyn Nets, 114-104. And even though they pulled the trigger on Naz Reid in the offseason, they are still capable of making a trade for Domas. They have Naz Reid plus Grayson Allen It's about $41.1 million in salary. They also even have a $40.8 million trade exception from the LaMelo Ball deal. So that opens up a lot of different options for the Hornets on the trade market, but it doesn't allow them to swallow Domantas Sabonis' whole contract in this move. It's about $4.7 million short. It also should be noted that they have three first-round picks in 2027 alone. They have their own, they have Dallas' as well as Miami's if it lands between 15 and 30. So Charlotte has the most picks out of any of these teams, They haven't really been willing to part ways with those assets, at least in previous trade talks. Then the next team is the Memphis Grizzlies, and this squad came out of nowhere out there in the Domantas talks. No one really knew how good they'd be to start off the season, but they have started off hot. They're 6-2 and not a team that is selling like some may have expected. That's a team that's trying to make one big move to maybe, you know, increase this pool of talent that they have with Cedric Coward, Zach Edey, and of course, Cam Boozer. The money piece to make this happen is Jerami Grant, who currently makes $34.2 million a season, the guy that they acquired in the Ja Morant trade. Now, I saw one pitch of Zach Edey also getting put into this discussion because that would make the $40.5 million in order to send back out, but Memphis is not going to give up Zach Edey in one of these trade talks, so they can find other avenues to make the package work. Similar to the Hornets, The Grizzlies also have a big trade exception themselves that they have to use before February 3rd if they want to make it happen. Again, it's too small to actually acquire Domantas Sabonis and or absorb his contract as it's about $16.6 million short, but that does give them some other options if they do want to go out there on the trade market. And this season, they also own the Los Angeles Lakers, a first round pick, which is protected one through four. But Memphis is currently hard capped as well. And until today, nobody really reported that they were in on Sabonis at all. In my opinion, Memphis is a dark horse team in terms of how tough it would be to make the cap logistics work and their current needs at the big man position, but you never know, they might want to take a big swing after their hot start to the season. Now comes the team that I'd actually be worried about in a bidding war if they are serious about acquiring Domantas Sabonis, and that is the Brooklyn Nets. Which feels a little bit strange, because the Nets are a rebuilding team, they have a bunch of young players, they're really bad, so why on earth would they want a 30 year old big man? We'll try to answer that question, but the Nets do have the pieces and the assets to make a very appealing trade to the Sacramento Kings. Because they have the one thing that none of these other teams have, and that's a bit of cap room. Brooklyn's been 2-6 to start off the season, and its payroll is $140 million. That's $60 million less than Toronto's. And it's $24.2 million under the salary cap. So by our math, Brooklyn could take on Domantas Sabonis' contract and only sent back $21 million in salary. So the Kings have the opportunity of shedding $24 million in salary just by saying yes. They also have the contracts to be able to match these offers straight up as Michael Porter Jr. currently makes $40.8 million and his deal expires this summer. And they also have a lot of draft picks. They have the Knicks 2027 first round pick and the Knicks 2029 first round pick, both unprotected. So if you're the Kings and you are one and seven to start off this year, you want to start over. You want some cap relief. If you want all that, then... The Brooklyn Nets are a team, if they're actually interested in making a deal with your squad to acquire DeMontis as a bonus, which confuses me a fair bit, but if they're willing to do it, then they are a team that can put together a very appealing package. And also, if you're liking this big in-depth breakdown on all these trade updates, trade reports, make sure you guys hit the like button on this video. Our biggest like video for the past month has been 367 likes. I want to beat it out there on this one, so make sure you guys hit that like button so more people can see this vid. So after looking at all three of these teams, how would a Toronto Raptors offer look next to it? The Raptors are hard capped at the first apron right now, so they have about $900,000, $960,000 of room underneath it. So for as a bonus, Toronto has to send at least $44.5 million back to the Kings, and Brooklyn only needs to send about $21 million. And that's why pretty well every version of this trade ends up sending RJ Barrett plus Plus Jakob Poeltl going out because that's $49.1 million. And for a team that. That has a $45.5 million player in Sabonis. And that's the exact deal that died back in February, as the Kings didn't want to take the three years, $84 million left on Poeltl's contract after this season, and the Toronto Raptors didn't want to attach a first to move it. And it's worse than that, because our cap sheet shows that RJ and Poeltl for the Sabonis deal adds $3.6 million to Sacramento's payroll. So that would push the Kings over the luxury tax line by about $500,000, And a one in 17. Paying the luxury tax just doesn't really make sense for their ownership. So if you're being cynical, you can look at it as a Raptors fan and be like, hey, the other team's offering cap space and Knicks picks, while we're offering a Raptors pick and, you know. Now, there are ways to keep the Kings under the luxury tax, them sending back another player. There's permutations of this deal that makes it work out that are different from the one that was offered last season. But the fact that there are other teams in the race right now, specifically if the Brooklyn Nets thing is real, then it doesn't knock the Toronto Raptors out of the Domantas Sabonis sweepstakes, but it does hurt their leverage. And can the Toronto Raptors make this offer better? At these different packages, different deals to see if it was actually possible. There's option one where you can find a third team to take on Jakupovs. They tried that last winter and per Siegel, nobody wanted to take the three years 84 million left on that extension. Option two people are bringing up is the trade exception for Ochai Agbaji, but you can't stack players inside of that. So I don't know why people keep mentioning that in the comments. You can also wait till December 15th where Kyle Anderson, Jaden Bradley, these different guys become available to trade. You have an extra $3.8 million to work with and see how things play out there for different permutations of this deal. But even then, that's not going to be able to replace Jakupovs or anything along those lines. So realistically, if the Toronto Raptors want to get this deal done, they're going to either have to add a first-round pick or find a team that is interested in acquiring Emmanuel Quickley because the Kings already said they're not that interested in Quickley's contract. And last February, the Raptors were unwilling to add that first-round pick To one of these deals, especially with R.J. Barrett, which I'd agree with. You're not giving up R.J. and a first just to get off some money and bring back some bonus. So I stand with Bobby Webster on that front. But the Brooklyn Nets have two picks they can trade. Charlotte has three picks in the 2027 draft alone. And the Raptors want to add a first. Now, if they don't want to add a first now, some team will. Which means Toronto's offer is basically the same thing that didn't go through last season. While more teams are coming out there in the mix. But the question really becomes... How serious are these other teams about acquiring Domantas Sabonis? Because obviously we can rank these different trade offers. The Memphis Grizzlies, I don't think they're a real realistic suitor. A lot would have to change in order for that to happen. The Raptors are out there. They probably have the third best possible offer for the Kings because teams like the Charlotte Hornets, who has the most picks out there in this situation, they're probably second best to the Nets. If they are real about this, have the cap space and the draft picks to make a deal happen. I seriously question whether the Nets are willing to give up actual draft picks to acquire Domantas Sabonis, who is a guy that doesn't really make any sense whatsoever on their timeline. So my take with all this is the Toronto Raptors should not get into a bidding war for Domantas Sabonis. We have to be smart about what we're buying. Sabonis is very good. He would rebound well. He'd be a good facilitator on the offensive end. He's a center, so that's a position of need for this Raptor squad. But he's undersized. He's not an elite rim protector. And he's a guy that's dealt with injuries himself. And the Raptors have a narrow window now with Kawhi Leonard on the roster. They need to make the smart bets. They do have to improve this team. They do have to focus on winning right now. But if you're giving up a bunch, if you're in a bidding war for a guy that has as many red flags as Sabonis does, and you have to give up these pieces. Don't go out and sell the farm for Domantas. See if teams like the Brooklyn Nets, who it doesn't really make sense to bring in, are actually willing to make these offers that are being speculated about right now in these reports. See if the Hornets are actually willing to part ways with one of the first round picks because they haven't been willing to do it in recent years. The Raptors are forced to give up RJ Barrett and a first just to outbid the Brooklyn Nets. That is an overpay. That is not the right move. And honestly, if you're going to do that package, you can probably find something better on the open market. And as much as they're trying to fix the situation out there in Sacramento, as many Instagram posts as they want to make, This is a very messy situation for the Kings, and I don't see Sabonis being on that team past this trade deadline. So if no one's willing to up their offers, there's no sense in the Toronto Raptors going out there and overpaying for a dude that you might be able to get for cheap ahead of the deadline. So we'll keep following this situation as the weeks and months draw closer to the trade deadline, but it's something that's definitely going to be evolving over time, and it seems like the market there are more teams interested in bringing in the Kings big man. But let me know in the comments down below, what team do you think will end up with Domantas Sabonis out of the trade deadline? Do you think it's the Raptors, the Hornets, the Nets, the Grizzlies, some other team? Comment down below. And if you want some updates on other trade targets for the Raptors, there's a much more appetizing one here with Norman Powell in a package that I actually really like for this Raptors team.