The NBA’s trade deadline came and went on Thursday with the Sacramento Kings only pulling off one transaction, despite only having 12 wins through the season’s first 52 games.During a lengthy press conference on Friday morning, Kings general manager Scott Perry addressed that lone deal, a three-team trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls that was executed back on Sunday, to send out Dennis Schröder, Keon Ellis and Dario Saric to land 6-foot-7 forward De’Andre Hunter.“De’Andre is a very proven two-way player in this league, and he’s not an old player,” Perry said. “He allows us to defend at a high level. He’s exhibited that throughout his career. He’s been a very good shooter from the perimeter. I know his numbers were a little down this current season coming out of Cleveland, but there’s enough historical data that leads me to believe that he can be helpful to us.”Perry, who is in his first season as general manager in Sacramento, also discussed the reasons those players were traded, how he sees the future for his roster and head coach Doug Christie, as well as not pulling the trigger on other trades ahead of the deadline.While explaining his view of how he approached the trade deadline and seeing the results of the work that went into the decisions made as they move forward, Perry continued to preach patience with the approach in turning the Kings’ fortunes around.“We’re at the extreme early stages of laying the foundation here,” Perry said. “You’ve heard the phrase from me, prudent and patient. That’s how it has to be if you want to create a foundation of sustainable winning like what we want to do. We’re not going to do anything out of panic.“We’re happy about where we are coming out of the deadline. We’re looking forward to seeing how young players continue to grow from this point on, and so hopefully we can gain some momentum coming out of the season as we prepare for next season.”While Kings fans may have voiced disappointment over the lack of additional player movement ahead of the trade deadline, Sacramento fan-favorite Dylan Cardwell was upgraded to a full-time roster spot as result of the three-team deal. The 24-year-old rookie from Auburn was rewarded with an NBA contract after serving in a two-way role, where he split time with G League Stockton.“He’s able to protect the rim, he’s a switchable center big man, he can guard guys away from the basket as well,” Perry said about Cardwell. “He’s an excellent rebounder, one of the top rebounders for the minutes he’s played as a rookie already and we just continue to see a very great trajectory for him.”Cardwell is one of several young pieces that the Kings will continue develop in the remaining 30 games of the season. Perry said just because they plan to develop and provide opportunity to players deeper into the roster, the expectation is to still win and compete. He will not support a losing culture even if it could help their position in the NBA Draft Lottery in May, he said. “We want to compete and I want to win as many games as we can,” he said. “And we’re not doing this, let’s be clear on that, to what I would call, ‘institutionalizing losing’, no. That’s not in our vocabulary, ‘tanking’, you’re not going to see a team that’s going to go out here these remaining 30 games and say ‘we trying to lose’, absolutely not.”See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
The NBA’s trade deadline came and went on Thursday with the Sacramento Kings only pulling off one transaction, despite only having 12 wins through the season’s first 52 games.
During a lengthy press conference on Friday morning, Kings general manager Scott Perry addressed that lone deal, a three-team trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls that was executed back on Sunday, to send out Dennis Schröder, Keon Ellis and Dario Saric to land 6-foot-7 forward De’Andre Hunter.
“De’Andre is a very proven two-way player in this league, and he’s not an old player,” Perry said. “He allows us to defend at a high level. He’s exhibited that throughout his career. He’s been a very good shooter from the perimeter. I know his numbers were a little down this current season coming out of Cleveland, but there’s enough historical data that leads me to believe that he can be helpful to us.”
Perry, who is in his first season as general manager in Sacramento, also discussed the reasons those players were traded, how he sees the future for his roster and head coach Doug Christie, as well as not pulling the trigger on other trades ahead of the deadline.
While explaining his view of how he approached the trade deadline and seeing the results of the work that went into the decisions made as they move forward, Perry continued to preach patience with the approach in turning the Kings’ fortunes around.
“We’re at the extreme early stages of laying the foundation here,” Perry said. “You’ve heard the phrase from me, prudent and patient. That’s how it has to be if you want to create a foundation of sustainable winning like what we want to do. We’re not going to do anything out of panic.
“We’re happy about where we are coming out of the deadline. We’re looking forward to seeing how young players continue to grow from this point on, and so hopefully we can gain some momentum coming out of the season as we prepare for next season.”
While Kings fans may have voiced disappointment over the lack of additional player movement ahead of the trade deadline, Sacramento fan-favorite Dylan Cardwell was upgraded to a full-time roster spot as result of the three-team deal. The 24-year-old rookie from Auburn was rewarded with an NBA contract after serving in a two-way role, where he split time with G League Stockton.
“He’s able to protect the rim, he’s a switchable center big man, he can guard guys away from the basket as well,” Perry said about Cardwell. “He’s an excellent rebounder, one of the top rebounders for the minutes he’s played as a rookie already and we just continue to see a very great trajectory for him.”
Cardwell is one of several young pieces that the Kings will continue develop in the remaining 30 games of the season.
Perry said just because they plan to develop and provide opportunity to players deeper into the roster, the expectation is to still win and compete. He will not support a losing culture even if it could help their position in the NBA Draft Lottery in May, he said.
“We want to compete and I want to win as many games as we can,” he said. “And we’re not doing this, let’s be clear on that, to what I would call, ‘institutionalizing losing’, no. That’s not in our vocabulary, ‘tanking’, you’re not going to see a team that’s going to go out here these remaining 30 games and say ‘we trying to lose’, absolutely not.”
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel