Sacramento Kings gamble pays off in drafting Justin Jackson, Harry Giles
By Kareem Gantt
The Sacramento Kings traded the No 10 pick in this year’s NBA Draft for the 15th and 20th Pick. Was it worth the gamble?
The Sacramento Kings have been known to be risk-takers in the wrong view but was their trading of the 10th pick in this year’s NBA Draft worth the risk?
Yes, it was.
This year’s NBA Draft has been full of surprises, from the Timberwolves morphing into the scariest team in the West by trading for Jimmy Butler to the Hornets getting what could amount to the steal of the draft by taking Kentucky’s offensive juggernaut Malik Monk.
The biggest surprise of the night, so far, has been the actual great draft choice the Kings made, taking De’Aaron Fox with the fifth pick. It was smart because the Kings really needed a point guard and surprising because of Sacramento’s tattered draft history.
For a moment, the Kings seemed like they would have an actual good draft night as they also held on to the 10th pick, and many in California’s capital city dreaming of having a team with Fox and Malik Monk powering a new era of Kings basketball.
That could have been wiped away when Sacramento traded the 10th pick for the 15th and 20th picks, but the Kings drafted Justin Jackson with the 15th pick, a player will fit in perfectly within David Joerger’s offense with his size and shooting skills, and Harry Giles with the 20th, which could be a just as much of a steal as Skal Labissiere was last season.
It was a very good chess move. After all, they did land their man in Fox, so the Kings figured that they would be comfortable building around Fox and Buddy Hield, and now with Jackson aboard, Kings fans may be well on their way to saying “DeMarcus who?”
It’s safe to say the Sacramento Kings, for the first time in a while, had a pretty good draft night.