On a night where former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie’s legacy lived on, Nik Stauskas was there to make sure the whole world knew. With the way the lottery ping-pong balls popped up, the 76ers got to swap picks with the Sacramento Kings, moving into the top three for June’s NBA Draft.
Stauskas quickly took to Twitter to burn the Kings.
Rain drop, drop top, we be converting on the pick swap. #ThanksSac 😜
— Nik Stauskas (@NStauskas11) May 17, 2017
In case you don’t keep up on old trades between perennial losing franchises involving mediocre role players, here’s the backstory. The Kings drafted Stauskas eighth overall in the 2014 but traded him to Philadelphia after his rookie season. A handful of picks were included in that deal, including the option for Philadelphia to swap picks with Sacramento in this year’s draft.
That worked out to perfection for the 76ers. Even though Philadelphia had much better odds in Tuesday’s draft lottery, the Kings jumped up to the No. 3 pick while the Sixers fell to No. 5. Pick swap!
The Kings made that trade to free up cap space for Rajon Rondo, who they later signed to a one-year deal. Rondo put up some of the best numbers in his career for Sacramento but left after a 33-win season for the Bulls. So now the Kings are left with no Stauskas, no big free agent, and the No. 5 pick instead of the No. 3 pick. To their credit, they also have the No. 10 pick thanks to the trade deadline deal that sent Demarcus Cousins to the Pelicans.
The 2017 draft class is very strong, but there are three consensus top talents — point guards Markelle Fultz and Lonzo Ball (who are already developing a rivalry), and small forward Josh Jackson. So while the Kings will still have some very skilled pieces on the board for their two lottery picks, falling out of the top three is a big deal.
