Updated at 10:51 am
There have been rumblings over the last week that the Sacramento Kings have been looking to shake up their roster. They finally got their wish in the form of a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Following multiple reports yesterday evening, the Kings have made it official and acquired forward Derrick Williams from the Timberwolves in exchange for veteran Luc Mbah a Moute. Williams comes to the Kings after two seasons and change with the Wolves, who selected the 22-year-old second overall in the 2011 NBA Draft.
“We’re excited to acquire a player with Derrick’s skillset,” said Kings general manager Pete D’Alessandro in a prepared statement. “He will add size, length and serve as a scoring threat in our frontcourt. We also want to thank Luc for his contributions during the short time he was a King. We wish him the best.”
Since being taken with the second pick two years ago, Williams has struggled to crack the rotation of former-Kings-turned-Timberwolves coach Rick Adelman. Prior to the trade, Williams had appeared in just 11 of the Timberwolves’ 16 games, averaging 4.9 points and 2.4 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per contest.
Williams will likely battle Jason Thompson and Patrick Patterson for minutes at power forward. Those who followed his career with the Timberwolves closely believe that the former Arizona Wildcat could add a scoring and rebounding punch if used as a four and is not suited to play the wing . Williams is a career 30-percent shooter from beyond the arc.
The deal ends a brief tenure in Sacramento for Mbah a Moute, who the Kings acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks in July. The Kings dealt a future second-round draft pick to land Mbah a Moute and he appeared in just nine of their first 13 games this season.
Mbah a Moute battled soreness in his surgically right knee for much of training camp and preseason, limiting his playing and preparation time for the regular season. After playing sparingly over the first two weeks of the season, Mbah a Moute was inserted in the Kings’ starting lineup and had started the last five games.
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