NBA Rumors: Could The Sacramento Kings Move On From Willie Cauley-Stein?

The eventual destinations of superstar players like Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard and Kyrie Irving have been the talk of the NBA for months now, but Thursday’s trade deadline will see plenty of action involving other players. One name to watch could be Sacramento Kings big man Willie Cauley-Stein, according to ESPN’s Zach Lowe.

There are two separate scenarios involving Cauley-Stein in Lowe’s rumor roundup. The first would see Sacramento trade him, a future draft pick and salary fodder to the Memphis Grizzlies for Marc Gasol. The Grizzlies are finally putting an end to the “grit and grind era,” and the Kings are one of the teams linked to Gasol in trade talks.

If the Kings do not feel like giving up a draft pick for a 34-year-old, they could still include Cauley-Stein in another unspecified trade package, per Lowe. The 25-year-old center is a restricted free agent after this season and the Kings could be inclined to part with him if the market conditions are right.

The Kings could potentially get something decent in return for Cauley-Stein. The 2015 first-round draft pick is having a career year, averaging 13.2 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in just 28.4 minutes per game for the resurgent Kings. He is also hitting 54.2 percent of his shots.

He also had an impressive dunk over Joel Embiid over the weekend.

Sacramento may not want to trade away its leading rebounder while it is still in the playoff chase, but Cauley-Stein may not be in the team’s long-term plans anyway. At 27-25, the Kings might want to get more minutes from Marvin Bagley III, who they took second overall in last year’s draft.

The rookie big man has put up respectable numbers in just 23.9 minutes per game. He is averaging 12.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while knocking down 51.6 percent of his shots.