Atlanta Hawks Rumors: Jeremy Lin to Sacramento Kings Makes Sense

Parsing through the recent Atlanta Hawks rumor regarding Jeremy Lin potentially being traded to the Sacramento Kings.

The Atlanta Hawks veteran point guard Jeremy Lin was mentioned as a potential trade target for the Sacramento Kings in a recent Tweet by Marc Stein.

While the Hawks are clearly sellers ahead of February’s trade deadline, the team must be looking for the best possible package in return for some of its veteran players.

We’ve recently outlined a three-team deal that involves the Rockets and 76ers with the primary players involved being Kent Bazemore, Dewayne Dedmon and Jimmy Butler – with the Hawks also finagling a couple of future second-round picks in the process.

With any deal that the rebuilding Hawks make, General Manager Travis Schlenk will almost certainly be asking for a future first round pick. However, with Lin not playing a lot this year (while still putting up some excellent numbers), Linsanity might not merit a first-rounder on his own.

Here’s a trade idea in which the Hawks would net two second-round picks:

This is quite an easy deal to make, as 37-year-old Zach Randolph has yet to play a single minute this season for the run-and-gun Kings. The Hawks would likely waive Z-Bo while retaining Yogi Ferrell as a backup one.

However, for the Hawks to truly accrue some valuable draft picks in this deal, the team could shift the deal into even more of a salary dump. Take a look at this scenario, which might provide sticker shock for Hawks fans on first glance:

Certainly, giving up Taurean Prince might be a mistake, as he flashed an interesting skill set late in the 2017-18 season. However, he has been injured for much of this season and his potential fit with Trae Young and others (see: Zion Williamson) is not perfect – nor does his advanced age for a younger player comparatively (25) put him on the same timeline as the Hawks.

Including Prince and taking on both the Randolph and Kosta Koufos contracts should entice the Kings to include a lightly protected (lottery-protected?) first round draft pick.

Who knows where Jeremy Lin might end up as the season progresses, but it seems like a foregone conclusion that his tenure as a member of the Atlanta Hawks is coming to an end ahead of February’s trade deadline.