When human emotions collide with business side of basketball
The Sacramento Kings made two bombshell moves in short succession Wednesday on the eve of the NBA trade deadline, acquiring two veteran players who could help them make a push for their first playoff appearance since 2006.
The question is how these trades will affect the chemistry and culture of a team that has taken the league by surprise this season. The additions of Harrison Barnes and Alec Burks may benefit the Kings in the weeks, months and years to come, but the immediate departures of Iman Shumpert, Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph left the locker room stunned.
“A lot of us are a little bit shocked, but at the end of the day we know it’s a business and we can’t take it to heart,” Kings guard Yogi Ferrell said. “The Kings felt like they made the decision that was best for the organization, so we just have to trust that.”
The moves were swift and decisive. The reactions were raw, real and unrestrained, a reminder that human emotions sometimes collide with the business side of basketball.
“I just ran my ass off every day with these dudes,” Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein said. “It’s hard when you get friendships, you get brotherhoods, and then, with no say — they don’t even know — they just show up and then they’re gone. That’s trash. It’s a crazy business.”
Reports of the first trade surfaced about 5 p.m., two hours before the Kings tipped off against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday in a game they would lose 127-101, ending their three-game winning streak. The Kings (28-26), who are 1 1/2 games out of the eighth spot in the Western Conference, acquired Burks from the Cleveland Cavaliers and a second-round pick from the Rockets in a three-team trade that sent Shumpert to Houston.
The Rockets also acquired Nik Stauskas and Wade Baldwin from the Cavaliers in the deal. Cleveland acquired Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss and a lottery-protected 2019 first-round pick from Houston.
Burks, 27, is a 6-foot-6, 214pound guard who averaged 10.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 51 games for the Utah Jazz and Cavaliers this season. He was traded from Utah to Cleveland in November. He is in the final year of a
four-year contract that is paying him nearly $11.3 million this season.
Burks had a big game against Sacramento shortly after he was acquired by the Cavaliers, posting 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds in a 129-110 loss to the Kings on Dec. 7 in Cleveland. He is a career 35.8 percent 3point shooter, but he shot 45.8 percent from beyond the arc over 15 games for the Cavaliers in January.
“I just know he attacks the rim, so I feel he’ll fit in well with us with his ability to get in the paint and create,” Ferrell said.
The second trade, which sent Randolph and Jackson to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Barnes, was initially
reported midway through the first quarter. Barnes, 26, is a 6-foot-8, 225-pound small forward who averaged 17.8 points and 4.3 rebounds for the Mavericks this season, shooting 39 percent from 3-point range.
Barnes was a starter for the Golden State Warriors when they won the NBA championship in 2015. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Kings intend to make a longterm play for Barnes, who is earning $24.1 million this season and has a $25.1 million player option next season.
“He’s a big forward,” Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox said. “He can really get his own shot, defend when he needs to defend, rebounds the ball. I think he’ll fit in.”
That didn’t make it any easier to part with three players who endeared themselves to teammates over the past two seasons.