Malik Monk reportedly likely to start season on Sacramento Kings roster

All summer long, the Sacramento Kings have explored the trade market for Malik Monk. He was linked to Detroit as part of a sign-and-trade to bring Dennis Schroder to Sacramento, but that deal got done without Monk. He was part of the Kings’ sign-and-trade offer for Jonathan Kuminga that never got done.

Monk trade talk seems to have faded. The Kings are not actively involved in any trade talks for Monk and he appears likely to start the season in the California capital, which may impact the future of Russell Westbrook, reports Marc Stein of The Stein Line on Substack.

“After Sacramento explored various trade scenarios earlier this summer involving Malik Monk, league sources say that the Kings are not actively engaged in such trade talks now. The Kings have maintained an interest in unsigned free agent Russell Westbrook, sources say, but I’m told that they have indeed explored the possibility of creating a backcourt opening for Westbrook by other means rather than dealing Monk.”

This is the dead time of year for deals, largely because this is the time of year when NBA front office personnel tend to be on vacation. Things start to ramp back up — both for potential trades and with the still unsigned restricted free agents — closer to the start of training camp in a month. Talk of a Monk trade could ramp up then, but this may be more of a case where training camp starts and the Kings wait out the market, taking their time to see if a team realizes it needs guard help, or an injury changes the dynamic somewhere. The Kings are deep with guards and would be looking for frontcourt help, as well as just remaining financially flexible in the future to reshape the roster (how much longer Zach LaVine and Domantas Sabonis are with the Kings is up for debate).

For the Kings, swapping out Monk for Westbrook would save money (Sacramento is about $3.1 million below the luxury tax line and hard-capped at the first apron, another $7 million above that). Monk is entering the second year of a four-year, $78 million contract and is set to make $18.8 million this season — a fair market contract for what he brings to the table (arguably even a team-friendly deal). Westbrook, however, is unlikely to receive more than a veteran minimum deal.

Monk could provide guard depth for a lot of rotations around the league. Last season in Sacramento, Monk averaged 17.2 points and 5.6 assists a game. He’s a career 35% shooter from 3 who struggled some with that shot last season (32.5%).

Monk may start the season in Sacramento, but it would be a surprise if he ends it there.