Sacramento Kings Trade Delon Wright To Atlanta In Three-Team Deal, Acquire Tristan Thompson
Aug 7, 2021, 3:01 PM | Updated: Aug 9, 2021, 8:55 am
(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
(AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Sacramento has bolstered its depth at the center/forward position by acquiring the 2016 NBA champion
Update: This deal has been officially announced (August 7th)
—–Original report——
Monte McNair has started to shake things up in Sacramento.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Sacramento Kings have acquired center Tristan Thompson in a three-team deal between the Kings, Atlanta Hawks and Boston Celtics.
In return for Thompson, Sacramento has traded point guard Delon Wright to Atlanta.
After being acquired in a mid-season trade with Detroit that sent guard Cory Joseph to the Pistons, Wright quickly made an impact with the Kings as backup point guard to De’Aaron Fox.
The veteran guard averaged 13.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game on 50-percent shooting from the field and 39-percent shooting from beyond three-point line over the last 10 games of the season when both Fox and Tyrese Haliburton were sidelined.
Wright had $9 million and one season remaining on his contract, almost identical to Thompson’s contract (one year, $9.2 million).
Thompson, a 10-year veteran and NBA champion, averaged 7.6 points and 8.1 rebounds on 51-percent shooting from the field last season for Boston. The 30-year-old started in 43 of his 54 appearances for a Celtics team that was eliminated in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs.
With Thompson, Richaun Holmes and Alex Len (deal has not been announced by the Kings as of August 9th) all in the fold for minutes at the center position, Sacramento has a variety of options for 2021-22–something they did not have the luxury of last season.
After drafting guard Davion Mitchell with the ninth-pick during last month’s NBA Draft, something had to give when it came to the depth at the guard position.
De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, Delon Wright and impending free agent Terence Davis were all options at the guard spots. By dealing Wright, Mitchell has a clear path to a rotation spot–pending other moves, of course.
Hield is likely the next domino to fall, as the Kings were closing in on dealing the sharpshooter to the Los Angeles Lakers before the Washington Wizards swooped in and offered up former MVP Russell Westbrook to outbid Sacramento.
