This Trade just got A LOT more Real...

Shams Charania had dropped a trade, an actual trade that the Sacramento Kings made today that made Raptors fans heart jump a little bit, given all of the Domantas Sabonis trade rumors we've been hearing, not just over the past couple of weeks, but really over the past couple of years. But nonetheless, it wasn't the big Sabonis deal as Nick Clifford, the 24th pick in the 2025 NBA draft, ended up getting sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder for two second round picks. After reading it, most Raptors fans looked at that and were like, okay, that is what it is. But when you look a little bit deeper, this puts the Sacramento Kings in a position to make more moves and aligns with a lot of the packages we've been talking about as of late, as the Kings right now have 13 players on their roster and $6.4 million under the luxury tax. And by our math, this fixes almost all of the problems that the Toronto Raptors had in the video we just made about. How it's going to be tougher for the Toronto Raptors to make a trade for Sabonis. Given the Kings were also a team that were dealing with cap issues, and the Raptors also a team that are hard capped after the Kawhi Leonard trade, this move the Kings just made opens them up for a real Domantas Sabonis trade. As last week, a trade package of Jakob Poeltl and RJ Barrett for Domantas Sabonis pushed the Kings about $500,000 over the tax. Today, that same deal leaves them $2.7 million underneath it. I know he wasn't playing much, but the Kings giving up on a young player like Nick Clifford, they didn't do that for nothing. And this has just opened up the door for the big package that we heard was offered to the Kings last season. This just made this deal once again legal. But the question arises now whether or not this makes sense for the Toronto Raptors. We've seen some arguments that one development from that Milwaukee Bucks game Could push the Toronto Raptors to really go through with this move this time around. Now, Sacramento has 14 days to get back to 14 players. And right now, it has two open roster spots. Now, James Ham has reported that there is a possibility that the Kings do promote Leaky Black from his two-way contract. And that's a boring answer, but definitely something the Kings can do. So it's not like they're in a desperate situation they immediately have to make a trade. Now, if they were sure that they were just going to promote a two-way guy and have that be their 14th man out there on this roster, they probably would have done that as soon as the trade happened. They would announce both moves out there at once. What happened? That's why a lot of people are looking at this as a possible way for the Sacramento Kings to bring back two or three players in a trade for Sabonis. Basically, every version of this Sacramento Kings Raptors trade for Sabonis involves the Raptors sending multiple players out for one. 13 players currently on their active roster, Sacramento Kings could take back not just two, but three players in return for Domantas Sabonis and not have to do anything special or crafty or cut any of their players. But obviously most teams are usually capable of working around a roster spot. The thing that really opened up the possibility of this trade or more possibilities for this trade was the money situation. And me saying this doesn't indicate RJ Barrett's getting Getting traded or me actively. promoting him getting traded or anything like that, but the money situation now does work for this deal. R.J. Barrett makes $29.6 million this season, and Jakobe Poeltl makes $19.5 million. Together, that's $49.1 million going out. For a player, that is $45 million this year into Domantas So in that straight up package, the Kings would be taking back an extra $3.6 million. And before this trade, they just made with the Oklahoma City Thunder that would put them into the luxury tax, which would be insane for their ownership to actually do given how bad that team is. Nick Clifford makes about $3.3 million this season. And that's almost exactly the amount that this trade would add to the Kings books. Whether it's a coincidence or not, the Sacramento Kings just cleared the room that a Barrett and Jakobe Poeltl trade needs and got a couple second round picks for doing it. Shams came out and said that Nick Clifford was not in the rotation, so the Kings just sent him out in return to get some extra flexibility for their roster and of course some draft picks so they have some assets moving forward to the future. And for a team that's shopping their current big man, one of their best players, That makes sense in terms of what their front office is doing. And on the money side, it helps their other limit, too, as not only were they worried about the luxury tax, but they were also a team that was hard capped coming into this season as well. Just like the Raptors, they were hard capped at the first apron on top of all the other money issues. And after this trade, they'd be about $11.4 million underneath it. Now there's the other version of this trade that's been thrown around. I've been pushing more so than the RJ Barrett one, and that is Immanuel Quickley and Jakobe Poeltl on the way out and keeping RJ Barrett on this team. Now that's $52 million going out. The most Sacramento can take back for Sabonis is $56.9 million. So after this trade they just made with the Oklahoma City Thunder, this deal now fits. But there would need to be some more maneuvering out there from the Kings for this deal to Some sense, because it does put them about $100,000 over the luxury tax, which I stated earlier, I don't think that they are going to pay, and it hands Sacramento both contracts that they've already said that they are not interested in, in Jakob Poeltl and Emmanuel quickly. Between Quickly's deal and Pirtle's extension, that's about $201 million still owed. When I brought this up in the past, people have written it off, oh, the Kings would never accept that deal or anything like that, but if the Raptors were willing to add a first to this trade to incentivize the Kings to take on this money and then on top of it you know the Kings they probably had a bit higher expectations coming into this year at last year's trade deadline as most teams do they think they're going to rebuild faster but now they see that this rebuild is still multiple years away they might be more willing to take on those bigger contracts here right now. So again that's going to require some master class negotiations From Bobby Webster, and I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for it and continue to push that propaganda, but this trade that they just made is a big indication for a step forward on the RJ Barrett package because that's the one that's already been discussed. We know Scott Perry is very interested in RJ as he's a guy that drafted him, and it hurts my soul, but this is what this move today from the Sacramento Kings is more pushing towards. Now, just last season, when the Raptors were negotiating the RJ Barrett for Jakob Poeltl package, the Kings didn't even want to touch just Poeltl at that point. And as I mentioned, things might have changed between last February and this point, but Poeltl still has three years, $84 million on his contract after this season. So it's not like it's more expiring here now at this point compared to where it was in February. But the Raptors were only willing to offer second round picks in order to offload that contract last year. That could change to a first, and as I stated, Bobby Webster is going to get cooking with the negotiations. So the Clifford trade doesn't change any of the facts that the Kings didn't accept that deal last summer, and the Raptors couldn't find anyone to offload Jakob Poeltl, but the landscape of the league has changed, and the landscape of both of these teams have definitely changed as well. The Barrett-Pertl version was something that was pitched out there by Sports Illustrated recently as well, and Sam Amico at the Hoops Wire called it a potential construction, not a guaranteed deal that's going to happen, but. These are a package that a lot of people are continuing to discuss right now. And Brett Siegel has confirmed that the Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets were the two teams that had real trade talks with the Sacramento Kings last year and that that interest has not gone away. So why does Toronto keep coming up in these bonus discussions? Why do we continuously make videos on it? Because new and new reports continue to come out with this guy and he's having a very good season individually. He's leading the league in rebounds at 14.6 a night. And Amico's point is that this could play out of the high post really, really well within the Raptors' offense. He can find cutters, he can give Scottie Barnes and Kawhi Leonard the ball. Just having an elite passer out there in the middle that can also space the floor, can step back and knock down threes, Sabonis would do wonders out there on the offensive end for the Toronto Raptors. But he also wrote that collecting rebounds and protecting the rim are two different jobs. When teams put Sabonis in the pick and roll, They attack him every single time. And that's something the Raptors would have to sort out, they'd have to deal with if they end up making this trade. And should be noted that this trade for Nick Clifford doesn't just help Toronto, as there are numerous other teams that have been linked to Sabonis as we covered in our most recent video, and the Brooklyn Nets are another team that has been brought up. The Brooklyn Nets, if they're looking to make a different offer, they would have this extra flexibility to make a deal with the Kings now after this move as well. The real question is what the Toronto Raptors would have left after they make a Sabonis deal. So with that, we have to look at the legitimate packages the Sacramento Kings would accept. And right now, the Toronto Raptors have both their 2028 and 2029 first round picks. But they do already owe two future first round picks to the Clippers. So every first they move on from now on is going to leave less options and less flexibility for this team moving forward. Option two, they pitch the exact same trade with RJ Barrett, Jakob Pertl, and two second round picks and try to find another team that would be willing to take on Jakob Pertl's contract. That nearly worked last time, and there's one less year on the Jakob Pertl deal, so maybe it could actually go through this season. Sacramento also came out of this trade with a $3.3 million trade exception per Keith Smith, and that's a small piece, but it is one more way to take on extra salary in a bigger deal. But there is one important thing to note about this trade is the Kings can now hold two open roster spots for just 14 days. So they have to do something in the coming two weeks in order to stay compliant with the league's rules. And we heard at the beginning of this, they could just convert it to a contract or sign some guy on the minimum. But I don't think the timing of this move, given all the quotes, given everything that's come out with the Domantas Sabonis thing was an accident. I think that this trade they made with the Thunder was done at this time, at this very moment, given giving up on a young guy, you know, for a team that's been as bad as the Sacramento Kings. It just doesn't really make sense unless they have something bigger in mind. But either way, in the realistic version of this deal without Bobby Webster finessing cooking up is a first round pick or some draft capital and RJ Barrett. But for me and a lot of Toronto Raptors fans, this is a very tough. pill to swallow as RJ just isn't some big contract you're dumping for no reason out there on the Sacramento Kings. He is really our most consistent player so far this year. We're 26 points against the Clippers, 22 points in Denver, 27 in Milwaukee, and that's just his last three games. And with Kawhi in and out of the lineup, Scottie Barnes, of course, has been our best player, especially when you take into account the defensive end of the floor. But nonetheless, RJ Barrett's been the guy that's carrying most of the scoring. But obviously, we've talked ad nauseam. Discussion, the discourse about moving RJ Barrett because of the money situation and Sabonis is signed through next year at $48.6 million and the Raptors have been unwilling to give RJ Barrett an extension so you're dealing with all this stuff here at once. So even though the Raptors are 5-4, they are a team that's looking to win now and in theory you'd be doing this trade like the selling point of this trade would be you believe the Raptors are better off with Domantas Sabonis out there on the court compared to RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl. The trade will also give the Toronto Raptors some extra room, as right now the Raptors are about $960,000 under the hard cap, and if you send out that $49.1 million and take back $45.5 million, then that room goes up to at least $4.6 million, and that's enough to fill the 15th roster spot. But you would be losing two starters to replace him with one, and RJ Barrett plays a completely different position, plays a role that is a very much... If we make this trade, somebody's going to have to play those wing minutes, and I teased it at the beginning of this video, and there's one name that people are now bringing up after that one game against the Milwaukee Bucks. As of course, with no Scottie, no Immanuel Quickley, no Kawhi Leonard, and no Kawhi Leonard, Out there in that game against Milwaukee, they needed someone to step up, and someone did. Elijah Martin, who was the 39th pick in the 2025 NBA draft, after he won a national title at Florida and made the Final Four at Florida Atlantic a year ago, Elijah Martin was just on a two-way contract, and he played very, very well for the Toronto Raptors 9-0-5 out there in the G League. And now, this season. Got a full standard contract and had his first real NBA moment, first real NBA opportunity on Friday. His career high coming into that game was just nine points. And in that game, he scored 27, shot nine of 11 from the field and six of seven from behind the three-point line. And after an ugly first half, the Toronto Raptors ended up winning that game 121 to 107. He and Barrett scored 54 points of the 121 put up by the Toronto Raptors in that game. And Elijah Martin, again, he proved he can knock down the three-point shot. I'm seeing a lot of people bring up how over the course of his career, he shot six of 27 from behind the three-point line. Josh Lewenberg said it, but if you watch this guy in the G League, you know Elijah Martin can shoot the basketball. He's a dog defensively. Even though he doubled his career high in one night, this is something the Raptors front office knew they had out there on the bench. Maybe not a dude that you'd expect to score 27 a night, but definitely a talent that was a lot better than the opportunities he'd previously been provided. Martin came out and said that I've been waiting on that. Honestly, I know what type of shooter I am, but I haven't been able to showcase it the way I've wanted to. And this isn't something that's made up. In the G League, he made 42% of his threes on 5.6 attempts a game. He's also the first Raptors to score 25 off the bench since A.J. Lawson put up 28 against Philly in March of 2025. Then on Sunday, Josh Lewenberg came out and reported that he was the last player in the gym after practice getting extra shots up. He came out and said that if you are a worker, you are naturally going to stay ready. And Darko didn't promise him anything. He said some nights they're going to need him to play five minutes. Some nights they're going to need him to play 25. But over his last five games, he's averaging nine points a night. And in his games before that, he was averaging 1.7. If we're looking at opportunities and we're looking at chances, Elijah Martin has earned. More chances for this team. Darko Rajakovic came out and said that it gives confidence to coaches and his teammates that he can be looked to do more. So obviously anyone that watched the Raptors 905 had a good feeling about Elijah Martin at the NBA level. Of course, you never know until you see it at that different level of play. We've seen a lot of players in the 905 be very successful and never really. provide that value to the big club, the big squad when they've been given moments. But Elijah Martin has definitely been doing on the defensive end, had an extended run out there in this game on Friday and proved he could be that elite scorer. I'm a believer in Elijah Martin. Am I a believer enough to push the narrative that people are talking about saying, hey, if we move on from RJ Barrett, Elijah Martin steps in, fills that role. He could be a starter. He could get all these minutes. He could do all that. No, I'm not that bought into. Him just yet. I need a bigger sample size to give that type of confidence. Of course, you have Jacoby Walter. And then I do have confidence Elijah Martin could be a backup out there in the case that we do trade away RJ Barrett. But I don't think that much weight should be held into a single game against the Milwaukee Bucks. Sure, he's been very good out there in the G League, but the Raptors are in win now mode. And RJ Barrett's proven to be that stable presence, that stable force on the offensive end for the Toronto Raptors. And. You know, trusting a guy that's in his second year as a second round pick as a, you know, a primary scoring option because you have one big night. That's a narrative I'm not getting behind just yet. But if you want to see how this Sabonis storyline ends up playing out, make sure you guys hit that subscribe button. We're currently at 45,198. So you could be a huge milestone, 45,200 subscribers. So each one gets us closer to our goals of 50K, which is, you know, the big milestones. Make sure you guys hit that subscribe button. But nonetheless, the Toronto Raptors, They are closer now to being in a world where Domantas Sabonis is on their team after the trade that was made by the Sacramento Kings today. We will keep you posted on any other news, any other developments that come out regarding the situation, but let me know what you guys think out there in the comment section below. Do you think you'd accept a trade of Jacoby Walter and RJ Barrett for Domantas Sabonis, that type of package? Comment in the comment section. If you want all the latest updates regarding this team, check out this video right here.