Why Sacramento Kings’ De’Andre Hunter Trade Is Another Front Office Misfire

The NBA trade deadline season is officially underway, with the Cleveland Cavaliers moving forward De’Andre Hunter to the Sacramento Kings for guards Dennis Schröder and Keon Ellis. This move is a bit of a head-scratcher, to say the least.

Sacramento had a bit of a logjam at guard and cashed in some valuable assets for De’Andre Hunter, who’s been having a down year in Cleveland. The Kings claim this is a “win-now” move, but why in the world would they ever make a win-now move?

They’re currently 12–38, good for dead last in the NBA. Also, I’m not sure Hunter provides much in terms of winning basketball. The 3-and-D trend in basketball gives athletic wings more benefit of the doubt when a lot of players don’t actually fit the mold. Hunter is not the defensive stopper that he was at Virginia. Not only is he a liability on defense, but he’s also shooting a career-worst 30% from deep.

Once again, the Kings are making moves that feel terrible in the moment and will likely look horrible in hindsight. The era of the “Light the Beam” Kings started in 2022, but those days feel like decades ago. They’ve consistently made the wrong move at every turn.

First, they moved on from Tyrese Haliburton for Domantas Sabonis. In the moment, that wasn’t a bad trade. Sacramento was in desperate need of a big man, and De’Aaron Fox was a Third Team All-NBA guard that same season. Unfortunately, they also traded Fox for Zach LaVine, one of the worst team players in the league. LaVine can fill a box score, but he doesn’t play a style that contributes to winning hoops.

Another under-the-radar bad deal was moving Harrison Barnes for DeMar DeRozan. Barnes has been a solid role player for San Antonio, while DeRozan continues to live and die by a play style that no longer works in the NBA.

Moving on from Keon Ellis in order to give 37-year-old Russell Westbrook minutes just feels like another move we’ll look back on and wonder what in the world Sacramento was doing. They took on a terrible contract that Cleveland was begging to get off its books and also gave the Cavs a backup point guard they desperately needed. It also frees up Cleveland to move off Lonzo Ball’s horrible contract.

Hopefully, the Kings can continue tanking and move some of their big contracts before the trade deadline. If they’re able to land a top-three pick, it can’t go worse than the last time they drafted that high, right?

There’s no way they have another Marvin Bagley-over-Luka Dončić moment. However, it is the Kings — and even in a loaded 2026 draft class, they’ll somehow manage to make the worst move available.