Sam Amick on Keegan Murray’s availability & where the Kings stand in trade talks

Sam Amick on Keegan Murray’s availability & where the Kings stand in trade talks

father or Oakland Athletic farmand we both agree that if we didn’t know him Samuel AMC would definitely you would think that’s a Founding Father 100% uh he joins us uh from his palacial uh estate south of the city of Sacramento and he also is the senior NBA writer for the athletic and uh the phone I’m sure is has smoke coming out of it these days Samuel good morning good morning gentlemen how we doing he’s muted or we’re muted oh that was us good morning Sam I was gonna say wasn’t me man good morning what’s up guys how are you good just real quick before we get started Chris don’t take your headphones off give Sam one Sam uh is this a founding father or a current Oakland Athletics farmand go ahead Chris Grant Judkins Grant Judkins was he a signer of the Declaration of Independence or does he play for the a Sam sounds like like like it’s like Dirk digler as name uh I’m gonna say A’s farmand the Athletics Sam AMC senior NBA writer father of two wonderful Sons how good is he in his history Chris rad he is a pitcher for the Lancing look at that well done you’re gonna carry that all day long right I got something right this should be your next piece um hey there’s a trades going on right now and everybody’s poking Monty with the stick proverbially on uh on Twitter but start there uh what isn’t going on with the Sacramento Kings wow just said the stage like that huh yeah yeah no I hear you they uh they they have poked around a lot like you said now the fans are are poking the front office a little bit uh and I get it um you know they are being aggressive they are looking at every guy who of of any repute who can make an impact but every time you hear that you know maybe something is getting traction and and getting closer to getting done uh it just seems like you know then all of a sudden it either cools or to be honest you hear that you that we were getting it wrong and that you know there was a smoke screen from other teams or agents or whatever it might be but you know KY kosma on draft night um was was loud enough that you know we always like to talk about the media component um myself and and our Wizards beat writer you know we just for fun we had a news story that we wrote just to have it ready just in case which we don’t normally do unless we think it’s real and then later found out it wasn’t really that close at all cam Johnson’s been a name um you know now it’s more Larry marinin and Brandon Ingram which you know as of last night I I definitely would push towards the don’t see them happening um type stance so um we’ll see as a quick final thought you know because I’ve been writing and talking about the Lakers a lot there’s an interesting parallel and and a lot of teams go through this is that when you have a young player and a prospect for the Lakers you know Austin Reeves for the Kings Keegan Murray you run into these scenarios where you got to choose like are you all into to the point that this veteran player is going to move the needle enough that you justify trading that young player or do you want to keep growing with the guy that you’re pretty high on and for the Kings right now my understanding is it’s they’re taking a very very hard stance on Keegan and and he’s not going anywhere talko with Sam Amic here so Sam I mean you kind of addressed a lot of those but I’m trying to think of the full list at least the kings were rumored in you you talked about kusma uh LaVine Ingram um cam Johnson I guess Markin and D and like any validity then at this hour would you say to to any of those or is there any progress on any of those in your mind I don’t want to pretend to truly know I really don’t they’ve been pretty close to the the vest um you know the D rozan one even from the Kings and Beyond I don’t know exactly how they see dear that one is tricky because you know he’s still a good enough player that he wants a big time payday so then it becomes about you know you could probably get a signing trade done without losing you know a ton of assets you saw the Warriors and their Klay Thompson deal with Dallas where it was two second round picks um almost got it done with one second round pick so but then it becomes about money and luxury tax and you know payroll and and how you see Demar um so he feels like the next guy on the board for somebody but you know in terms of like real substantive progress with the Kings right now with a player I I’m not aware of it okay okay so let’s pretend that you are that you do know just for fun um you know everything if you were to rank the I won’t say the likelihood Sam but the aggressivity that’s a word of uh the talks kma Ingram marinan does do any of them stand out either very aggressive or or all but dead uh you said who is in between kma and kma Ingram and uh uh kma Ingram or yeah and I guess you could throw LaVine in there as well Al though I haven’t heard anything about that in a while um I’ll I’ll frame it more I think in like what feels and sounds like legitimate interest I feel like Ingram and marinin would be higher on the list um I think kosma has always inspired a a mixed room within the Kings um and I think that plays a part and now with New Orleans and England and Utah and marinin and probably even more so Utah and marinin you know you like Danny an who is running the Jazz now doesn’t have to move him right and it’s a little analogous to Brooklyn with male Bridges where you’re you’re at this inflection point where you’re either building around a player like Mel Bridges or you get so much offered your way in exchange for him that you go ahead and pivot and do the full rebuild so Brooklyn did the full rebuild because the Knicks were desperate enough that they put a bunch of stuff on the table um so now similarly with Utah the question is is anybody G to blow them away and really if I I feel like the Warriors appear to be closer to that than anybody um you know then then will Utah actually make that move yeah you know again just trying to read this while while following it Sam it it feels like the Kings want to maybe make a move but certainly aren’t in that desperate category But as time goes by you know the free agency pool is also shrinking on the Kings um you know it was important to keep Malik monk that’s good but after that this was supposed to be a pretty active summer again it’s not done but you know could the Kings be left where maybe there’s not a trade and not that significant of a free agent signing yes it does feel that way um oh boy you know it does I mean you know next week and maybe it changes and then I can say hey great job Kings you know I don’t know you know I don’t know where it’s going to go uh you’re right Jason to be fair I think you know if you’re looking at stuff that you shouldn’t take for granted like they had a a somewhat sticky contract situation with the best head coach they’ve had in a very long time and you know they got the Mike Brown deal done they got the Malik monk deal done um you know it’s a little bit like last year when they could point to internal Improvement you know Keegan’s going to get better things like that but yeah like Harrison Barnes Kevin herder you know the 13th pick I think it’s fair to say you know they were hoping and somewhat optimistic that it was going to lead to an impact player and it just hasn’t Sam amck of the athletic joining us uh again I I’m I’m asking specifics but I I know we don’t know and would would you agree with the Instinct I have that marinin would almost certainly need to include Keegan Ingram if they could get away with keeping Keegan’s gonna need a ton of draft capital and then I guess kosma then LaVine when it comes to price do I do I have it somewhere in the ballpark do you think yeah for sure and there’s a big gap between kozman and LaVine yeah um you know kma’s contract is is fine like it’s yeah it’s very similar to barnes’s deal where it it declines you know and and he’s a good player um that one I know some Kings fans don’t seem too high on him I mean to me that one makes a lot of sense where it’s a relatively lowrisk move I think it makes the most sense Sam by the way I agree with you and like as long as you’re not giving up Keegan in that um which again to reiterate I I’ve been told that like it’s you know I don’t know how long the list of guys is that they would give Keegan up for but it’s not anybody currently available on the market uh but the LaVine thing is you know the Bulls have had a hell of a time moving him forever at this point they’ve got to incentivize a team to take him you know you’re talking about the the the assets and the draft picks coming back to Kings Way in that deal um with cap filler going Chicago’s way I don’t have any reason to think that deal is going down but yeah I think your list is correct and yes I agree with you that for marinan and likely Ingram um you know i’ also get the sense that those teams are are pushing for Keegan yeah and if if not Keegan do you get a I mean is it picks mainly from the Kings and there might be salary filler in a Barnes or herder or some other things but is is that what’s coveted most probably priority is Keegan for another team and then first pick first round picks uh yeah I mean I I don’t know that they have anybody asking for Fox or sabonis or you know um so yeah it’s Keegan uh you know I think and now it’s fair and this is always tricky like we know they were shoing in the 13th pick right well then they made their pick and now that pick is is an actual player and he’s a human being and so but what I completely rule it out that you know that Devon could be involved in something no because he’s you know he’s the guy that they took with the 13th pick and if the team they’re talking to likes him then that could be in play as well but um yeah I mean that’s that’s I think the the uh the framing of it Sam amck joining us and Sam I just want to ask the the the the third rail hot button question here but I think it has to be asked you know are are are are we not spending enough time with Monty McNair and his history his first ever pick as a general manager was probably the biggest steal of the last five years and he traded him less than two years into his career so when we hear Keegan’s Untouchable and I I have to say it when we hear Fox and sabonis are Untouchable I mean is there any part of you that thinks money ain’t a trade ain’t afraid to trade anyone if the right deal pops up and maybe this is just value posturing yeah I mean there is a track record there and and and this is not a direct through line but more context that we’ve talked about before is that Monty came up in the Houston Rockets front office where it’s funny um you know I just wrote about Philly going for Paul George now that’s Daryl Mor running the Sixers Daryl previously in Houston and one of Monty McNair’s you know mentors in this business and Daryl is a swing big all the time type of executive now in Houston not surprisingly Rafel Stone who runs the Rockets front office I wrote about him and how like basically the only three guys he’s really excited about are you know Zion Williamson Devin Booker and uh I don’t know why I’m forgetting the third one but like swinging big that’s what people from that you know kind of uh culture if you will do and Monty was a huge part of that for a long time so he does have that mentality I I do though think to me they’ve had enough success with this core in this group that unless there was something absolutely spectacular on the table for any of those bigger names I don’t see it um it’s funny as a quick side note I was just thinking of to share to poke fun of myself and hopefully I tell the story well enough when we reported myself and Anthony Slater going into the draft that the Kings had the 13th pick out there um and help me out here sabonis is wearing which jersey number oh uh 11 11 yeah and what was he last year 10 10 yeah okay the point is as I’m talking to Slater and relaying what I’d been hearing I was trying to tell him that the 13th pick was available and instead of saying 13 I said 11 I think and and his mind was blown he goes are you saying number 11 is is Avail you’re saying sabonis is available and I joked with him like can you imagine if we had our wires crossed and we actually reported yeah that would that would caused some heart attacks um you know Sam I I don’t know what you Intel you would have on this but I’ll ask anyway as far as the guys that we just kind of all refer to I think some of it makes sense you know if Washington were to deal someone like kozma that that they’ve struggled uh the Bulls are kind of revamping if if D rozan is an assigning Trader he just signed um who else we got Markin and the Jazz have had a you know tough times so I guess where I’m getting to is is Ingram I mean they traded for Murray I I I could see that going wait what why why wouldn’t we go Murray CJ Zion McCullum you know uh herb Jones Trey M like they’ve got some good things there wh why why do you think the desire for them to possibly move off of Ingram I know he’s in a final year maybe they can’t pay later but what what what are you hearing on on on maybe their desires to possibly move him just the contract stuff and that um you know they can extend him and they have not you know Alla Klay Thompson with the Warriors like didn’t haven’t had any luck Coming to Terms um May you know so that that’s the calculus and on top of that you know if you got a small Market team I don’t have their books in front of me to know exactly how much money they have out but you’ve got some big money guys on that roster already you have a guy in Ingram who has been inconsistent who had some pretty tough moments last year late in the season uh where he just doesn’t look like the guy uh and you know some nights he does he’s a bit of a Kings killer obviously but everybody on the Pelicans is um so yeah I think it’s just probably a a combination of the somewhat tepid uh response to his play and and the contract situation the um you know the ghost of the machine if you will sometimes with the Sacramento Kings is also ownership and and admittedly you know vka has been fantastic the last few years but uh you know that that shadow always looms you have anything on internal pressure on Monty McNair to be aggressive yeah I think it’s a fair amount um you know it’s I I hit on this the other day I didn’t really hit it that hard but you know dearen Fox’s choice not not to sign his extension and then you know not only that but you know me being told that like he’s definitely not signing it this summer and everybody had assumed that the only reason he was waiting was so that he could get all NBA potentially and get the supermax which allows him to get 35% of the the cap in his pocket rather than 30 um I you know my understanding is that is not the only reason that he’s waiting waiting on the extension he is like a lot of young stars in this league looking at his team and wondering Dave is going out to the yeah you lost Dave more Panic here we go it’s natural Dave this is the league he we’ve been telling everyone it’s because of the all God dang it now I mean I want you know athletic buddy you clearly have not been you know keep no I I read it but you know the whole thing is like well yeah he wants I I read the line financially made sense to wait honestly but if there’s more to it that’s yeah maybe I didn’t write it hard enough no you didn’t she used all caps next all caps Dave this is for you metalics please should worry about losing your I mean it it’s a just a fact like you know he it’s not at this point it’s not a reflection of some sort of indictment of the work that’s being done it is like oh by the way people he has the same agent as LeBron James um and and the paybook The Playbook is you you know you keep your options open um you exercise whatever influence pressure power you have which is always through your contract situation and the cynicism around the league of front offices ownerships you know the the people of power who a lot of them just want you know to to bring in as much cash as possible is like do you really really really want to actually win I want to contend for a title and if that’s not what’s happening here then maybe I need to think about other options we’re not even close to there yet but he’s just you know he has no reason to sign it when he has a lot of confidence that that he’s going to be in a good spot a year from now to to get a deal done you know Sam I’m thinking about um you know it felt like when free agency started a lot of this was hinging on Paul George maybe um I don’t know if Donovan Mitchell or uh clay LeBron like the now all the moves are starting to to take shape here um did any of these or do any of these have any impact I and not that the kings were players in these guys but does that you know there’s so many different things moving around do any of those moves or the you know things holding up the Kings at all is there anything like that out there no not that I’m seeing I mean I you know weeks ago I had kind of you know checked with the Kings to see if they had any inclination to to take a huge swing at a Paul George or a or a Klay Thompson you know less of a swing but a lot of history between clay and and the Kings obviously um they did not appear to go down those roads but I I I understand your question I don’t see obstacles in front of them right now um I just see competition for these players you know like Larry Markin I don’t know how long the list of teams is that is banging down Utah’s door but it’s going to be a fair amount to a lesser degree on Ingram but he’s a very good player what what they I mean look at the Knicks deal for Bridges and you will see that it’s a pretty challenging Market to meet to get a player of any repute because the Knicks you know put what did it end up being four or five first down yeah you know like if you’re Utah and especially if you don’t the problem is that the teams with the players have the luxury of being able to tell the suitors that we don’t have to do this you don’t have us over a barrel you don’t really have much leverage at all you have to blow us away and the Kings you know are are obviously questioning whether or not they want to do that Sam amch joining us uh I’ll ask you the same question again a philosophical question I asked Jason yesterday so uh kosma Ingram LaVine and marinan if I were to say to you uh Sam the kings are going to make a big trade and I give you a choice I give you those four guys or I give you the field and where I’m going here is so often you know we sniff around and hear stuff and then it ends up being oh my God here’s the trade we didn’t even think of would you pick one of these four or would you pick the Unknown Soldier we haven’t talked about yet I would pick one of the four if only because it just would make all of my work seem [Laughter] pointless rational thinking Fair yeah what is my existence what am I doing yeah the kozma won to me I know we already hit this but like that that I don’t know that’s the one where man if you get that done the risk is fairly low like you’re not you again without losing Keegan Murray um you might get a little better the fans feel like you know the front off has got something done um if it if it’s not a great fit and you know he he he uh looks like Gordon Hayward with the Thunder last year yeah like it’s it’s not great but it’s not the end of the world uh and and you can keep it moving without that cloud over your head of um you know the team that just has been stagnant for quite some time and you always have Ben Simmons to fall back on Sam hey he’s got some great IG picks going up these days I I post a workout of his like three years ago people you hey it ain’t summertime if you ain’t looking at a Ben Simmons workout for you uh Sam a mcrs for the oh uh last I know we got to go but just real quick I I have this written down uh one non Kings thing were you surprised at all to hear the Celtics are selling yeah I mean I didn’t have any sniff of that so yes but I’m not surprised in terms of a get out while the getting good because you just won the title B Mark hbin forecasted this when he explained his choice to sell his majority stake in the Mavericks the regional Sports Network issue within the NBA uh in the revenue stream that has gotten so much smaller on that front while the national TV deal has grown is something that that has been overlooked a bit and I think people like Wick grck know that and you talk about a drop the mic moment uh that is it I will leave you guys with this absolutely Shameless plug because I know you do have a fair amount of Warriors fans in the area um I did enjoy writing today about Klay Thompson and why he chose the Mavs over the Lakers I’m a sucker for the behind the scenes stuff a lot of stuff on his interview in with Dallas down in La having dinner and and why he spurring the Lakers and some of the the Warriors Joe lob dynamics that led to his exit well I certainly am looking forward to that I’m also looking forward to your followup the new Splash Brothers if the Buddy heel deal goes through can’t wait for that that’s gonna be amazing Lakers this is how the Lakers will finally get buddy healed and the Kings will finally get Cal kman all right in the world of course oh God there we go hey if that’s what it is that’s what see Sam and I agree on kma see there you go Sam he’s a fit King I just I just want to see that young dude roll into golden one with some of the you know Swag that that he brings to the table what is that look yeah in this weather be wearing the Borat manini all right well congratulations on Founding Father Oakland A and everything else you do make sure to read Sam’s upcoming article on the behind the scenes with Klay Thompson at the athletic you can get the app go to theathletic.com subscribe there’s so many deals going on right now it’s so cheap I have not one but two subscriptions thank you Sam we’ll oh have a great uh Fourth of July with the family we’ll see you next week thank you guys likewise all right take care we will take a break

The Athletic’s Sam Amick joined Carmichael Dave and Jason Ross to dive into the latest reports and rumors surrounding the Sacramento Kings as they continue to survey the NBA trade market.

Is Keegan Murray available in trade talks? Will the Kings get one of the players that they have been heavily linked to? That and much more in this lengthy interview.

Thank you for watching. Don’t forget to hit the thumbs up and subscribe!
#nba #nbafreeagency #sacramentokings #brandoningram #laurimarkkanen #nbatraderumors #kylekuzma

Subscribe at: https://www.youtube.com/c/Sports1140KHTK/?sub_confirmation=1
Find Sactown Sports 1140 online: https://t.co/K0vdSg5o1w
Listen live to Sactown Sports 1140: https://player.listenlive.co/55401
Like Sactown Sports 1140 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SactownSports
Like Sactown Sports 1140 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sactown1140
Follow Sactown Sports 1140 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sactown1140
App download Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bonneville.khtk&hl=en_US&gl=US
App download iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sports-1140-khtk/id1314735220