NBA Trade Deadline: Update to Kings-Rockets Swap

Okay, quick update for the Kevin Martin to Rockets trade.

Here is the final shakedown after the Knicks got involved:

Kings receive Carl Landry, Joey Dorsey and Larry Hughes.
Knicks receive Tracy McGrady and Sergio Rodriguez.
Rockets receive Kevin Martin, Jordan Hill, Jared Jeffries, the right to swap 2011 First Round picks with the Knicks, and a presumed top 5 protected pick from the Knicks in 2012.

The only change to the Kings here is they keep Hilton Armstrong and Kenny Thomas and acquire Larry Hughes expiring contract. Same cap space as before heading into next season and now they don’t have to hear about how horrible Jared Jeffries contract is or talk themselves into believing Jordan Hill can be anything but a wasted pick in the NBA.

I’m a little shocked that the Kings laid down so easily here and allowed all of the assets from the Knicks side go to Houston. Houston easily won this trade by picking up a perfect defender for what they do (Jeffries), a scorer they desperately needed (Martin), a prospect they can afford to take a chance on (Hill) and two of the Knicks picks that are only top 1 protected in 2011 and top 5 protected in 2012.

Here is the Kings’ new depth chart after this trade has been completed. It’s just a little tweaked from last night/this morning.

As you can see, the Kings have one too many players. That means they’ll either buy out Larry Hughes and end up paying him roughly 80% of what he’s owed the rest of the season in return for his unconditional release or they’ll drop Joey Dorsey because his deal is only partially guaranteed next season. My opinion is that they should drop Hughes and get him the hell away from Tyreke Evans.

Overall, the Kings didn’t get as sweet of a deal as they could have. They tried to strong-arm the Knicks into giving up David Lee in New York’s desperate attempt to clear cap space for LeBron. Instead, agent Arn Tellem might have scared them off because he represents T-Mac AND Tyreke Evans. David Lee is not worth potentially rocking the boat and ruining a working relationship with Evans’ representation even if Tellem is most likely full of manure.

I still like this deal for the Kings. They got a good low post scorer (one of the best in the league) and a ton of cap space to try and use this summer (less likely to get a star) or next summer (very likely to get one of the big guns).

TrueHoop Network wide analysis coming shortly.