The Sacramento Kings are trying to upgrade their roster as they make a playoff push ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
The Kings have acquired Harrison Barnes from the Dallas Mavericks for Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Barnes was in the middle of the Mavericks’ game against the Hornets when news of the trade broke.
Barnes, 26, is averaging 17.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and making 39 percent of his threes this season. He has a $25 million player option for next season, and Adrian Wojnarowski says the Kings will attempt to keep Barnes long term.
The Kings want to make a long-term play to keep Barnes, who has a player-option on his $25M deal for the 2019-20, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/teCw98MfAY
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 7, 2019
The Kings have the lowest payroll this season and the budget to add a player like Barnes. At $12 million, Randolph was their highest-paid player. They also have a very low amount of salary costs for next season thanks to their squad of young players.
As for Dallas, the Mavs say they are trying to win this season, but their actions indicate otherwise. They are holding Kristaps Porzingis out for the season and dealing Barnes away. They plan to offer Porzingis a max contract in the offseason and probably wanted to clear some salary cap space and not risk Barnes picking up his option.
