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Kings Trade Former Lottery Pick To Raptors In Huge Deal Before NBA Draft Round 2

The Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors have agreed to a multi-player trade shortly before the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft kicks off.

More news: 2024 NBA Draft: Winners, Losers, Biggest Surprises of First Round

The Kings are sending guard Davion Mitchell, forward Sasha Vezenkov, and the No. 45 pick in Thursday's second round to the Raptors in exchange for forward Jalen McDaniels. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news of the trade.

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SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 03: De'Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings celebrates with Davion Mitchell #15 after a basket in the third quarter at Golden 1 Center on November 03, 2021 in Sacramento, California.... SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 03: De'Aaron Fox #5 of the Sacramento Kings celebrates with Davion Mitchell #15 after a basket in the third quarter at Golden 1 Center on November 03, 2021 in Sacramento, California. Mitchell is heading to Toronto. More Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images

This is the fourth trade to occur on Thursday before Round 2 of the draft. The Atlanta Hawks sent a former first-round pick in forward AJ Griffin to the Houston Rockets for a second-round pick.

Read more: Hawks Trade Former First-Round Pick to Rockets Ahead of NBA Draft Round 2

The Minnesota Timberwolves traded guard Wendell Moore Jr. To the Detroit Pistons, who moved up 16 spots in the second round to take on Moore.

Read more: Timberwolves Make Another Trade, Send Guard to Pistons Before NBA Draft Round 2

And finally, the Golden State Warriors acquired guard Lindy Waters III from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the No. 52 pick in the second round.

Read more: Warriors Make Trade, Acquire Guard From Thunder Ahead of NBA Draft Round 2

This is the biggest trade of the day, with a former lottery pick in Mitchell switching teams and a veteran role player in McDaniels heading to Sacramento.

Mitchell, 25, was drafted with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. He's mainly played as De'Aaron Fox's backup in each of his first three seasons in the league, averaging 7.4 points and 2.8 assists in 20.4 minutes per game. He averaged 27.7 minutes per game in his rookie season, though, and averaged an impressive 11.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. He's lost playing time in each of the last two seasons.

Mitchell will now head to Toronto, where he'll look to get a much larger role. Toronto is also acquiring Vezenkov, who made his NBA debut last season with the Kings. The former second-round pick in the 2017 draft by the Brooklyn Nets averaged 5.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12.2 minutes across 42 games last season.

As for McDaniels, the Kings are paying a hefty price to get the former second-round pick of the Charlotte Hornets in 2019. McDaniels has been a solid role player across the Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Raptors, averaging 6.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 18.3 minutes per game.

His best career season came in 2022-23 with the Hornets and 76ers, when he averaged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and one steal per game. He averaged 23.9 minutes across 80 games that season.

The Kings will hope to get that version of McDaniels, a 6-foot-9 wing who's a career 32.2 percent shooter from deep. He shot a career-worst 16.9 percent from deep this past season.

Finally, the Raptors are getting the No. 45 pick on Thursday. In Wednesday's first round, the Raptors selected guard Ja'Kobe Walter out of Baylor with the No. 19 overall pick. They have the first pick of the second round (No. 31) and now a middle second-round selection, too.

As for the Kings, they drafted guard Devin Carter out of Providence with the No. 13 overall pick on Wednesday. He will likely be taking over Mitchell's role as the team's backup point guard.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Reports: Raptors Get Davion Mitchell, Sasha Vezenkov From Kings For Jalen McDaniels

Davion Mitchell is reportedly headed to the Raptors after being traded.

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The Toronto Raptors and Sacramento Kings are reportedly swapping swingmen in a trade.

The Kings will send Davion Mitchell, Sasha Vezenkov and the No. 45 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft to the Raptors for Jalen McDaniels, per multiple reports.

Mitchell is known for his defensive abilities on the perimeter while McDaniels has developed a similar reputation with the Raptors.

A lottery pick in 2021, Mitchell has seen his role steadily decline in Sacramento. Last season, he averaged 5.3 points, 1.3 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 15.3 minutes per game, a far cry from the 11.5 ppg, 2.2 spg and 4.2 apg he averaged in 27.7 mpg as a rookie.

However, Mitchell played strong after the All-Star break and was a key player for Sacramento, which made the Play-In Tournament. In 28 games after the All-Star break, Mitchell posted 7.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg and 2.1 apg in 18.6 minutes per game.

McDaniels signed a two-year deal with the Raptors last summer and appeared in 50 games, averaging 3.4 ppg and 1.6 rpg in 10.8 mpg. He struggled offensively, shooting 34.4% overall after averaging 45.5% in 2022-23. He saw his role increase after the All-Star break (14.3 mpg, 4.4 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 1.2 apg) but the Raptors were out of contention for the postseason by early March.

Vezenkov, a rookie in 2023-24, was the EuroLeague MVP in 2022-23 and signed a three-year deal with the Kings last summer. He appeared in 42 games (12.2 mpg, 4.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg) but competed for frontcourt minutes with veterans such as Harrison Barnes, Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles.

Why The Raptors Should Find Another Core Player This Summer

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - OCTOBER 27: Scottie Barnes #4 of the Toronto Raptors reacts against the Chicago ... [+] Bulls during the first half at the United Center on October 27, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

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With Scottie Barnes signing a max rookie extension on July 6th, which will trigger next summer, the Toronto Raptors are suddenly on the clock to make a move.

With starting point guard Immanuel Quickley a restricted free agent this summer, his new deal will trigger as soon as he signs it, which - more than likely - will also be on July 6th after the end of the NBA's moratorium.

Assuming Quickley gets a 25% max, and Barnes starts next year on a 30% max if he makes All-NBA, that's a large chunk of cap space that's suddenly evaporated from Toronto's books, and that's baking in the 10% cap increase coming next year, which will - to be fair - lower Quickley's cap percentage.

The point remains, however. With both Quickley and Barnes locked in on big deals, navigating those waters, in order to get better, does get tricky.

That is, of course, unless Toronto gets out ahead of it this very summer.

But, how to do that? RJ Barrett is also on the books. As will Bruce Brown be when the Raptors pick up his option.

(Toronto doesn't intend to keep Brown, but rather trade him so they get a return.)

Is Barrett that third guy next to Barnes and Quickley? If so, that seems like a trio with a pretty set ceiling. It's certainly not a team that's expected to make many Finals runs, unless all three of them level up, and rather significantly.

So, what's the play? How do they find that third player, who can help catapult them into the upper echelon of the Eastern Conference?

One possible solution, which would also help their cap sheet, is to loop in the Houston Rockets, who are simply dying to jump at the chance of accelerating their rebuild.

It's heavily speculated that Houston is willing to relinquish multiple young assets to get their star player.

The Raptors could make an open-ended pitch to Houston, and offer to sweeten the pot for any team holding a star that's of Houston's interest. Say, for example, the Miami Heat who is rumored to be open to shopping Jimmy Butler.

The Heat are known for not bottoming out. They have no desire to tank for draft picks. They likely would be more interested in getting Brown and Barrett from Toronto, than, say, Jalen Green or Jabari Smith from the Rockets.

The Raptors could inform Houston, that they'd help facilitate such an arrangement, for the cost of Green, Tari Eason, and Dillon Brooks for salary matching purposes, while also shipping out future draft capital to Miami in order to align value for Butler.

(In this scenario, the Rockets would also fork over draft compensation to Miami.)

Essentially, for Toronto, adding the contract of Brooks is indirectly the necessary add-on to get their young core into the fold.

Miami gets younger, but not so young they can't stay competitive, and they get a haul of draft selections for their troubles.

Houston gets their target, in Butler, who will replace Brooks and Green and become the team's clear-cut star.

Toronto will walk away with Green, and Eason, who will become part of the new core for the Raptors moving forward, and both of whom will cost a lot of money to retain.

The challenge of doing a similar trade next summer is the pending restricted free agency of Green, which will complicate matters. Furthermore, by then Houston will likely have moved on a star. If not Butler, then someone else.

Here, the Raptors get Green a year before a new contract is going to trigger, and a year before they even have to deal with a rookie extension to Eason.

Is such a deal perfect? No, not by a long shot. Each team will likely wish to make a few substitutions, and perhaps add more picks to align value.

But at the very least, the Raptors help provide the Heat with players who can play right now, which we know the organization prefers, with Houston aligning value via draft compensation.

Miami may never tank for draft picks, but they don't turn them down when given to them in trades.

Houston gets their star, even if adding Butler at his age seems like it's too little, top late. But that's their prerogative, and of no business to Toronto.

Is a core of Barnes, Quickley, Green, and Eason a sure-fire Eastern Conference contender? Maybe not, but it's a strong foundation of which the Raptors can build something on. They could even try to flip Brooks to a contender down the line, perhaps getting another young piece in return.

(Do note that the above involved player contracts comes short, on behalf of the Rockets, by a little more than $500,000 in order to be legal. So the Rockets will need to send something else Toronto's way, before they're allowed to take on Butler's enormous cap hit. That could be Jock Landale, who the Raptors could view as an expiring for next season.)

The overarching point here is, that now might be a good time to strike, if you're the Raptors.

Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.Com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.

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