The Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors have agreed to a multi-player trade shortly before the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft kicks off.
More news: 2024 NBA Draft: Winners, Losers, Biggest Surprises of First Round
The Kings are sending guard Davion Mitchell, forward Sasha Vezenkov, and the No. 45 pick in Thursday's second round to the Raptors in exchange for forward Jalen McDaniels. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski was the first to report the news of the trade.
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This is the fourth trade to occur on Thursday before Round 2 of the draft. The Atlanta Hawks sent a former first-round pick in forward AJ Griffin to the Houston Rockets for a second-round pick.
Read more: Hawks Trade Former First-Round Pick to Rockets Ahead of NBA Draft Round 2
The Minnesota Timberwolves traded guard Wendell Moore Jr. to the Detroit Pistons, who moved up 16 spots in the second round to take on Moore.
Read more: Timberwolves Make Another Trade, Send Guard to Pistons Before NBA Draft Round 2
And finally, the Golden State Warriors acquired guard Lindy Waters III from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the No. 52 pick in the second round.
Read more: Warriors Make Trade, Acquire Guard From Thunder Ahead of NBA Draft Round 2
This is the biggest trade of the day, with a former lottery pick in Mitchell switching teams and a veteran role player in McDaniels heading to Sacramento.
Mitchell, 25, was drafted with the No. 9 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. He's mainly played as De'Aaron Fox's backup in each of his first three seasons in the league, averaging 7.4 points and 2.8 assists in 20.4 minutes per game. He averaged 27.7 minutes per game in his rookie season, though, and averaged an impressive 11.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game. He's lost playing time in each of the last two seasons.
Mitchell will now head to Toronto, where he'll look to get a much larger role. Toronto is also acquiring Vezenkov, who made his NBA debut last season with the Kings. The former second-round pick in the 2017 draft by the Brooklyn Nets averaged 5.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12.2 minutes across 42 games last season.
As for McDaniels, the Kings are paying a hefty price to get the former second-round pick of the Charlotte Hornets in 2019. McDaniels has been a solid role player across the Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers, and Raptors, averaging 6.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 18.3 minutes per game.
His best career season came in 2022-23 with the Hornets and 76ers, when he averaged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and one steal per game. He averaged 23.9 minutes across 80 games that season.
The Kings will hope to get that version of McDaniels, a 6-foot-9 wing who's a career 32.2 percent shooter from deep. He shot a career-worst 16.9 percent from deep this past season.
Finally, the Raptors are getting the No. 45 pick on Thursday. In Wednesday's first round, the Raptors selected guard Ja'Kobe Walter out of Baylor with the No. 19 overall pick. They have the first pick of the second round (No. 31) and now a middle second-round selection, too.
As for the Kings, they drafted guard Devin Carter out of Providence with the No. 13 overall pick on Wednesday. He will likely be taking over Mitchell's role as the team's backup point guard.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Noah Camras graduated from USC in 2022 with a B.A. in Journalism and minor in Sports Media Studies. He's worked ... Read more
