Fox and the Ox: Why Sabonis trade is so similar to Kings’ transformational move for Webber
Former Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie took a chance once, trading his best player, Mitch Richmond, to acquire a young All-Star who turned the team into a global phenomenon and an NBA championship contender.
Now, nearly 24 years later, general manager Monte McNair has rolled out a similar blueprint with plans to build around another gifted young big man who possesses some of the same wizardry Chris Webber brought to Sacramento a generation ago.
McNair, a Princeton man like Petrie, made his first transformational move ahead of last week’s NBA trade deadline. He sent Tyrese Haliburton, arguably his best player, to the Indiana Pacers with Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson in exchange for Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday and Jeremy Lamb.
The Kings made a subsequent move to acquire Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Jackson and Trey Lyles in a four-team trade that sent Marvin Bagley III to the Detroit Pistons, but Sabonis was the centerpiece in a swift and stunning rebuild that happened almost overnight.
“When we first kind of met as a group almost 18 months ago now, I said we want to be aggressive but patient,” McNair said. “We need to be disciplined and we’ll be strategic while building out the talent base here, but when the opportunity presented itself, we would take a swing. I think we’ve seen — both deadlines — we’ve seen a little bit of the discipline and now we’ve seen a little bit of the aggression.”
The magnitude of the trade and other obvious similarities evoked immediate comparisons to the Webber trade in May 1998. Webber was 25. Sabonis is 25. Webber was 6-foot-10 and 245 pounds. Sabonis is 6-11, 240. Webber was an All-Star. Sabonis is a two-time All-Star.
Webber averaged 20.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists in his sixth season out of Michigan. Sabonis is averaging 18.7 points, 12.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in his sixth season out of Gonzaga.
Sabonis was even better last season, putting up averages of 20.3 points, 12.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists. As special as Webber was during his Hall of Fame career, he never averaged more than 18.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists in a single season as Sabonis is doing now for the second year in a row.
The Kings have had some special big men in the past with Webber, Vlade Divac and DeMarcus Cousins. Now, the feel they’ve found another.
“Certainly, there’s a fantastic history of skilled passing big men in this organization — Vlade and Chris Webber among many others — so I hope Domas continues to carry that torch,” McNair said. “… He can do so much on the court that not just helps us because of his scoring and everything, but what he does for the rest of his teammates. … That’s what he does. He makes his teammates better. He brings toughness. He brings all those things, and certainly there have been guys in this organization that have done that in the past, and we hope he’s the next one.”
Fox and the Ox
One of the most important questions now becomes how well Sabonis will pair with De’Aaron Fox, the 24-year-old point guard who is in the first year of a five-year, $163 million max contract.
Fox was impressed after Sabonis posted 22 points, 14 rebounds and five assists in his Kings debut, a 132-119 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The two of them shared a hearty hug following their first game together.
“He’s a monster,” Fox said. “He’s like an ox.”
Fox and the Ox. McNair likes the sound of that.
“We think his skillset complements De’Aaron,” McNair said. “De’Aaron’s skillset complements him and Domas’ skillset complements just about everybody. He might have been able to get me some open shots out there, so we’re excited to see those two guys together.”
McNair was pressed further with questions about how he views the fit between Fox and Sabonis.
“I would say, first, pace,” McNair said. “We want to run and we all know Foxy’s speed, fastest player in the league, and what he brings, but playing with pace is about more than just running up and down the floor. One of the big things is getting a rebound and getting it out quickly, and Domas is one of the best rebounders in the league.
“He can push it himself, like we saw Wednesday night (against the Timberwolves). He can get it to Foxy and let him go, and now we’ve got more and more wings and forwards that can run with those guys, so I think that’s one huge way they complement each other. And then we saw, in the halfcourt, we all know what Foxy can do with his speed to distort a defense and kind of playmake for others, but Domas’ passing ability and gravity helps not just De’Aaron, but the rest of the guys as well.”
Staying power
The biggest difference between the Webber and Sabonis trades? Webber wasn’t smiling when he arrived in Sacramento. Over time, he developed a deep and lasting love for the city, but cried during the flight to California’s capital city and did not want to report when he was traded to the Kings.
Sabonis looked downright eager to be here when he came bursting through the door for his introductory news conference following the win over the Timberwolves. He had an ear-to-ear grin and a whole host of family members sporting his new Kings jersey in the back row.
“Since the second I made it to the NBA, I figured out the hard way it’s a business,” Sabonis said. “I got traded on draft night, and then a year later, I got traded again, so I’m just trying to find a home where I’m loved and I feel like I found it here. I love it here.”
This is another area where McNair was pressed when he met with the media to discuss his moves at the trade deadline. The Kings traded one of the most promising young players in the league in Haliburton, who is in the second year of an affordable rookie contract. Sabonis has two years remaining on a four-year, $74.9 million deal. The Kings will get at least two good years from Sabonis as he enters his prime, but can they sign him to a long-term extension before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2024?
“We think (Sabonis) will be with us not just for the short term, but we hope he has a long future in Sacramento,” McNair said. “… I think his comments after the game were awesome, and not just a fantastic player, but a fantastic player who wants to build a home here and be a part of something special here, is fantastic.”
Playoffs or bust
Webber led the Kings to the first of eight consecutive playoff appearances in his first season in Sacramento. That might be too much to ask of Sabonis, who came in with 26 games remaining in the regular season.
The Kings (22-37) were 13th in the Western Conference going into Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Bulls (37-21). Sacramento was 2 ½ games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the final play-in spot in the West with the New Orleans Pelicans and San Antonio Spurs positioned ahead of them as well.
“We’ve stated our goal, which is to not just get to the playoffs, but stay there,” McNair said. “We want to do that as quickly as possible.”
The Kings may not be able to end their record-tying 15-year playoff drought this season, but McNair felt the addition of Sabonis could help the team now and for years to come.
“There’s only so many opportunities throughout the NBA calendar to make impact moves and the trade deadline is certainly one of the biggest ones,” McNair said. “This move is not just about now. It’s about now and the future. And, like I’ve said, we added multiple guys who are going to help us now, certainly, but will be part of our future going forward.
“Certainly, we want to win. We have 25 games left. We want to win those. And if the cards fall that put us in the play-in tournament, we’ll try to win a game or two there and get into the final eight. But this is also about next year and the year after, and putting ourselves in a position where we will not just be in the playoffs, but compete there year in and year out, and continue to grow this thing. So, this was about a multiyear kind of improvement, and certainly we hope the dividends start paying off right now
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
