Willie Cauley-Stein Trade Rumors: Latest News, Speculation on Kings C

The Sacramento Kings are reportedly willing to listen to trade inquiries involving center Willie Cauley-Stein, who's struggled to carve out a meaningful role in the team's frontcourt. 

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Latest on Cauley-Stein's Trade Availability

Friday, Nov. 11

Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported Friday the Kings are "open" to dealing the sixth overall pick in the 2015 NBA draft. He also noted the Kentucky product is interested in finding an opportunity where he could become more involved.

However, CSN California's James Ham reported the Kings plan to keep the big man.

Cauley-Stein failed to make much of an impact during a rookie campaign that included 66 appearances, including 39 starts. He checked in at just 7.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.0 block per game while averaging a little over 21 minutes.

Any hope of taking a major step forward in Year 2 has faded because of a further decrease in playing time under new head coach Dave Joerger. He's averaged only 14.5 minutes across eight games.

That's mostly because DeMarcus Cousins dominates the minutes at center. So all of the members of the frontcourt are forced to fight for the remaining action, and Cauley-Stein often gets lost in the shuffle.

Matt Kawahara of the Sacramento Bee noted Wednesday the 23-year-old big man stated he was "tired of not playing," so he's tried to refocus his energy. Instead of lamenting his limited work off the bench, he wanted to try making the most of those chances.

"That's what I've been battling the last couple weeks is just not worrying about it," Cauley-Stein said. "You're going to come out anyway, so you might as well go as hard as you can as long as you're in there."

Now it sounds like those forays onto the floor could be an audition for interested teams. Along with filling a prototypical high-energy niche, Ham pointed out Cauley-Stein has been working with former sharpshooter Peja Stojakovic to improve his own offensive game.

While Stein didn't list any teams that could pursue a trade with the Kings, there should be a solid market for a player taken inside the top 10 last year. The biggest question is exactly how much Sacramento would demand in return for an asset who hasn't fit into its squad as well as expected.