Rumors swirling, Kings winning, JTA waived in a wild couple of days in Kingsland

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Hold onto your hats, it’s going to be a wild couple of weeks.

The reporting started early on Friday with the Kings’ name being brought up once again in connection with Toronto Raptors’ power forward Pascal Siakam, by Yahoo! Sports’ Jake Fischer. 

“Atlanta was once considered the most aggressive suitor for Siakam’s services, holding serious conversations with Toronto last offseason, sources said. But the chatter among NBA executives surrounding Siakam’s potential landing spots has now centered on Indiana, Sacramento and Detroit,” wrote Fischer.

After going through the assets the Kings might offer, including Kevin Huerter, Harrison Barnes and Davion Mitchell, Fischer went on to add, “There’s a chance Sacramento makes the best real offer for Siakam in the end.” 

Fischer’s reporting started a snowball effect. By mid-afternoon, Shams Charania of The Athletic stoked the flames with a short video posted on social media.

“The Raptors are ramping up trade talks around Pascal Siakam and I’m told, the Sacramento Kings are emerging as a serious suitor in Siakam,” Charania said. “They are among the offers and options that Toronto has and this is gaining interest in Sacramento to pair and combine a big three of Pascal Siakam, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, if they're able to pull a deal off.”

Before Siakam could walk over to the home locker room or Kings fans could pop the cork of a champagne bottle, Charania had already thrown a wet blanket on the possibility of the All-Star forward joining Sacramento.

“The Sacramento Kings are deciding to pull out of the Pascal Siakam talks, sources say. Things can be fluid, but Kings-Raptors talks are now over.”

There are a lot of outs in Charania’s reporting. “Things can be fluid” sounds like someone is negotiating through the press, although “talks are now over” isn’t the same as “talks are over for now.”

Adding intrigue to the situation, Siakam, along with the entire Raptors team and front office, including club president Masai Ujiri, were in Sacramento to play the Kings on Friday night. Siakam scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, but it was the home team that came away with a 135-130 victory.

Independent of Fischer’s reporting, league sources have confirmed to The Kings Beat that the Kings have checked on the value of both Huerter and Mitchell on the trade market over the last few weeks. There is a chance that one or both will be on the move in the coming weeks.