The two most important assets the Kings acquired at Thursday’s trade deadline were Miami’s second-round draft pick in 2020 and the little more than $3 million cash.
That’s because the deals weren’t about immediate improvement. Instead, the Kings are keeping the focus on the future, and they believe trading George Hill, Malachi Richardson and waiving Georgios Papagiannis makes that possible.
“At the end of the day, every bit of this strategy was about how do we open up opportunities for the young guys to really take advantage of the remaining games,” said Kings assistant general manager Brandon Williams.