Report: Kings Traded Dewayne Dedmon to Help with Bogdan Bogdanovic Contract
February 6, 2020
The Sacramento Kings were reportedly motivated by more than the opportunity to land Jabari Parker and Alex Len when they elected to trade Dewayne Dedmon and two second-round picks to the Atlanta Hawks.
After Adrian Wojnarowski and Zach Lowe of ESPN reported news of the trade, Marc Stein of the New York Times noted a "major motivation" behind the Kings' decision was the eventual goal of re-signing swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Stein cited league sources who said the Kings are "optimistic" they have the financial ability to match any potential offer sheets for the sharpshooter who is scheduled to be a restricted free agent this coming offseason.
That Sacramento would prefer to keep Bogdanovic is not a surprise.
He is just 27 years old and averaging a career-best 14.6 points, 3.3 assists and 3.1 rebounds behind 37.8 percent shooting from three-point range this season. He is also someone who can take advantage of the spacing created by the additional attention opposing defenses send at De'Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield and Marvin Bagley III as the Kings look to build a young, competitive core.
What's more, Dedmon has not been a major contributor for Sacramento this season and has averaged 5.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in 34 games, a significant dropoff from the 10.8 points and 7.5 boards per night he posted last season for the Hawks.
Dedmon has played for the Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs in addition to the two teams that made the trade Wednesday, but he found more success in Atlanta than at any other stop. He also averaged 10.0 points and 7.9 rebounds for the Hawks in 2017-18.
He will now look to replicate those numbers for the rebuilding squad.
As for the Kings, they will turn their attention toward re-signing Bogdanovic and building a competitive team for the 2020-21 campaign.