Knicks · Marc Stein: Kings Likely To Trade Jason Thompson (page 1)

The Toronto Raptors, according to the latest chatter in circulation after Sunday's shedding of Rudy Gay, are by no means done making moves between now and the Feb. 20 trade deadline.

The same, though, can be said for the team gambling on Gay.

At the behest of new ownership in Sacramento, first-year Kings general manager Pete D'Alessandro has been aggressive in trying to reshape the roster, swinging a trade earlier this month for former No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams before rolling the dice that Gay -- whose 38.8 percent shooting thus far this season has only cemented his reputation as one of the league's least-efficient top scorers -- can mesh with franchise big man DeMarcus Cousins.

Next up? League sources told ESPN.com that the Kings will be trying to find a new home for forward Jason Thompson, who presumably wouldn't quibble with a fresh start after the arrivals of Gay and Williams to play alongside Cousins.

It remains to be seen, though, what sort of market exists for Thompson, who received a five-year contract extension worth just more than $30 million from the Kings' previous regime under former lead executive Geoff Petrie, who selected the 6-foot-11, 250-pounder with the No. 12 pick in 2008.

Thompson is earning $5.6 million this season, $12.4 million over the next two seasons and $6.8 million (albeit with only $2.7 million guaranteed) in 2015-16. Thompson's contract also contains a 5 percent trade kicker.

The Raptors, meanwhile, have been expected to be active in the trade market since the season began, with ESPN.com reporting since Nov. 1 that everyone on the roster apart from prized center Jonas Valanciunas had been made available.

New Raptors front-office boss Masai Ujiri has managed to trade away Andrea Bargnani and now Gay over the past six months to create financial flexibility going forward and -- with Toronto apparently determined to avoid any accidental success in the Atlanta Division -- is said to be happy to surrender veteran point guard Kyle Lowry next.

The priority in Toronto is clearly finishing as high as possible in the lottery with Canadian sensation Andrew Wiggins and several other top prospects expected to be available to teams picking at the top of the June draft. Lowry is in the final year of his contact at an affordable $6.2 million and believed to be eminently available because he's not part of Toronto's future plans.

any chance they'd be interested in felton?

nyk4ever wrote:http://espn.go.com/blog/marc-stein/post/...

The Toronto Raptors, according to the latest chatter in circulation after Sunday's shedding of Rudy Gay, are by no means done making moves between now and the Feb. 20 trade deadline.

The same, though, can be said for the team gambling on Gay.

At the behest of new ownership in Sacramento, first-year Kings general manager Pete D'Alessandro has been aggressive in trying to reshape the roster, swinging a trade earlier this month for former No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams before rolling the dice that Gay -- whose 38.8 percent shooting thus far this season has only cemented his reputation as one of the league's least-efficient top scorers -- can mesh with franchise big man DeMarcus Cousins.

Next up? League sources told ESPN.com that the Kings will be trying to find a new home for forward Jason Thompson, who presumably wouldn't quibble with a fresh start after the arrivals of Gay and Williams to play alongside Cousins.

It remains to be seen, though, what sort of market exists for Thompson, who received a five-year contract extension worth just more than $30 million from the Kings' previous regime under former lead executive Geoff Petrie, who selected the 6-foot-11, 250-pounder with the No. 12 pick in 2008.

Thompson is earning $5.6 million this season, $12.4 million over the next two seasons and $6.8 million (albeit with only $2.7 million guaranteed) in 2015-16. Thompson's contract also contains a 5 percent trade kicker.

The Raptors, meanwhile, have been expected to be active in the trade market since the season began, with ESPN.com reporting since Nov. 1 that everyone on the roster apart from prized center Jonas Valanciunas had been made available.

New Raptors front-office boss Masai Ujiri has managed to trade away Andrea Bargnani and now Gay over the past six months to create financial flexibility going forward and -- with Toronto apparently determined to avoid any accidental success in the Atlanta Division -- is said to be happy to surrender veteran point guard Kyle Lowry next.

The priority in Toronto is clearly finishing as high as possible in the lottery with Canadian sensation Andrew Wiggins and several other top prospects expected to be available to teams picking at the top of the June draft. Lowry is in the final year of his contact at an affordable $6.2 million and believed to be eminently available because he's not part of Toronto's future plans.

any chance they'd be interested in felton?

They took on Rudy Gay, so anything is possible. I'd be more interested in Derrick Williams than Thompson though (who I do like).

Is Thompson that much better than Tyler? I'd rather upgrade the PG spot, personally

smackeddog wrote:It would be Shump, Aldrich and Beno, probably. The fact we're waiting until dec 15 and that that's when we plan on signing Tyler indicates we plan on sending out multiple players.

Is Thompson that much better than Tyler? I'd rather upgrade the PG spot, personally

Thompson, at least right now, is better than Tyler. Thompson is a legitimate NBA contributor. His contract sucks and I think you can buy him low.

ApophisADL wrote:Why would the Kings want Shumpert when they have McLemore?

Do they have to keep him? Can't they trade him for somebody they really want before the deadline ?

ApophisADL wrote:Why would the Kings want Shumpert when they have McLemore?

They traded for Gay- they aren't the smartest franchise.

SupremeCommander wrote:so this is what it has come to - hoping that the great Jason Thompson falls into our laps

Exactly. Never that high on this guy. He's no savior.

Go get me Kevin Jones outta the D-League. The guy we really should've picked up from the DL was Malcolm Thomas. San Antonio keeps showing how smart they are..

Finestrg wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:so this is what it has come to - hoping that the great Jason Thompson falls into our laps

Exactly. Never that high on this guy. He's no savior.

Go get me Kevin Jones outta the D-League. The guy we really should've picked up from the DL was Malcolm Thomas. San Antonio keeps showing how smart they are..

no one is going to be a savior unless we get lebron. it doesn't hurt to find other pieces that will help us out though.

nyk4ever wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

SupremeCommander wrote:so this is what it has come to - hoping that the great Jason Thompson falls into our laps

Exactly. Never that high on this guy. He's no savior.

Go get me Kevin Jones outta the D-League. The guy we really should've picked up from the DL was Malcolm Thomas. San Antonio keeps showing how smart they are..

no one is going to be a savior unless we get lebron. it doesn't hurt to find other pieces that will help us out though.

You'd give up Shump for this guy? That's what it'll take. He's our only tradable commodity (maybe THJ -- what exactly is his value though?) and his value is about as low as it could possibly get.

Let's put it this way -- not taking anything away from Thompson, decent player, but in Shump's rookie year or better yet last year, specifically the end of last year where he showed up in the playoffs and showed a vastly improved perimeter game, showed signs the athleticism was still there with that monster putback jam vs. Indy at home (let's say that was his high water mark in terms of his value), if the Kings came calling at that point and offered Jason Thompson for Shumpert, what would you have said? My answer--even presupposing the frontcourt problems we're experiencing this year--would've been a resounding NO.

No way of knowing what the Knicks will do here -- there's evidence that Dolan doesn't even like the guy from nonsense going back to summer league; that Woody doesn't care for him despite what he says publicly, etc. -- they may trade him away. I think that's a mistake. I'm not trading this kid just to trade him and "clean house." Again, unless it's a deal that blows me outta the water, I'd look to build this kid back to where he was before. No way anyone can convince me this kid's career is over. NO ONE's playing well on this team -- not just Shump. They just rewarded JR Smith with a lucrative deal (not to mention they took care of his little brother too) and that dude's played like ass crack for us so far. It should be a priority to build Shump back up to an impact 2-way player. Woody has lost this team.