While Trae Young is now a member of the Washington Wizards, the Sacramento Kings had an opportunity to acquire him from the Atlanta Hawks but turned it down, according to James Ham of the Locked On Kings podcast.
“The Kings had been offered Trae Young at one point exchange for Zach LaVine,” Ham stated in the most recent episode of his podcast. “They said no because they knew that the second he got off of a plane, he would want an extension and the Kings were not fully prepared to be in the long-term Trae Young business.”
That was in fact the case, as shortly after Young moved to the Wizards, he signed a four-year contract worth nearly $213 million.
Could Trae Young Have Made Sense in Sacramento?
Even though he’s known for his lack of defensive play, Young would have been a valuable piece for the Kings if they had opted to make the move. Despite being limited to just 15 games last season, the 27-year-old was an all-star in both 2024 and 2025. Last season, he averaged just 17.9 points per game, which was a significant drop from prior seasons, but it seems to be an outlier more than a trend of what is to come.
With that being said, Young wouldn’t be enough to fix the Kings’ multitude of problems on his own. With Domantas Sabonis’s future in doubt and a general lack of high-end talent that’s ready to compete, the Kings are multiple seasons away from being a true contender even if they had brought Young into the mix.
At that stage, they would’ve been paying Young hundreds of millions of dollars to not move the needle significantly. If De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis weren’t enough to make the Kings legitimate contenders, Sabonis and Young wouldn’t be either.
Scott Perry Takes a Smarter Approach
Even if the Kings had brought in Young, it seems clear that Sacramento isn’t a market that’s going to attract a lot of free agent talent at this point in time. That’s likely the reason we’ve seen the Kings linked with quite a bit of unconventional free agents this summer. They have continuously been tied to Victor Oladipo and Elfrid Payton, players who have been out of the NBA for a considerable amount of time at this stage.
This ultimately led them to address their backcourt in a different way. First, they selected Darius Acuff Jr seventh overall in the NBA Draft. Had they acquired Young, drafting Acuff would’ve left him stuck behind a veteran in his prime and likely would have stunted his ability to become the long-term starting point guard in Sacramento.
Eventually, this approach resulted in the Kings signing a veteran backup for Acuff as well. While Ben Simmons isn’t likely to be much of a mentor for the Kings’ young point guard of the future, he’s desperate to succeed, as this is likely his last chance to show that he belongs in a league that quickly left him behind. As a result, the Kings’ backcourt this season will be interesting to say the least.
Sacramento Kings Turned Down Opportunity to Acquire Trae Young