Exclusive: McNair details Kings’ trade deadline plan, search for wing help

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Exclusive: McNair details Kings’ trade deadline plan, search for wing help originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The NBA trade deadline is soon approaching, and the Kings (18-19) are at a unique point in the 2024-25 season.

As expectations skyrocketed with the addition of six-time NBA All-Star DeMar DeRozan and the continued growth of the De’Aaron Fox-Domantas Sabonis duo, the results have fallen short through 37 games this season. While their new Big Three could be a nightmare for opposing defenses, their bench depth has lacked consistent production.

But Mike Brown was dismissed as coach following a 13-18 start to the season. Assistant Doug Christie was named interim head coach for the rest of the season, and Sacramento has gone 5-1 since the change.

With the team ascending the Western Conference standings, Kings general manager Monte McNair spoke to NBC Sports California’s Mark Jones and shared his approach to the looming Feb. 6 trade deadline.

“I think the first thing we’re looking at is we made a big change, so what does the team look like? We’ve seen a little bit of that, but we want to see a little bit more about how this team responds and exactly what we have,” McNair told Jones. “We’re always looking, that’s our job in the front office, we always got to find ways to improve this team especially in the Western Conference where it feels like every year there’s 10, 11, 12 teams that you got to compete with.

“Early returns have been good, we want to continue to see that. And then we’re about three or four weeks out from that decision point, and we’ll see if there’s a way to improve the team and keep climbing the standings.”

Fox is having a career season, though he has been hampered by a glute injury that will sideline him for the third consecutive game on Friday night. Sabonis is doing Sabonis things. DeRozan has been big for Sacramento as a leader and in the clutch, most recently scoring nine of the Kings’ 11 points in double overtime to secure the thrilling victory over the Miami Heat on Monday.

But it has been players such as Keon Ellis, the Kings’ beloved diamond in the rough, who have helped spark this…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/exclusive-mcnair-details-kings-trade-002743411.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2025-01-11 00:27:00

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