
The Sacramento Kings could add a valuable power forward to their frontcourt ahead of the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline.
Kings add athletic star in a mock deal for John Collins

Forbes’ Evan Sidery reported on Thursday afternoon that the Kings have gotten the ball rolling with the Utah Jazz on a potential trade for John Collins:
“The Jazz and Kings have conducted exploratory trade talks centered on John Collins,” Sidery published on X. “Sacramento can make salaries work while avoiding the tax by including Kevin Huerter and Trey Lyles. Collins is averaging 17.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 43.8% on threes.”
Collins can beef up Kings’ attack with invaluable skills
A deal of this magnitude makes sense for both parties. Particularly in the case of the Kings, they have been on a major upswing over their last eight games. After falling from .500 to 13-19 on Dec. 28, Sacramento has since won seven of their last eight games to reach .500 once more at 20-20.

Questions may arise as to whether there’d be redundancy with Collins playing alongside Kings’ reigning All-NBA Third Team honoree Domantas Sabonis in the frontcourt given their like skill sets, as well as in accordance with their interior-oriented stars DeMar DeRozan and De’Aaron Fox occupying the midrange. Nevertheless, with the way they’ve been rolling of late, adding a lob threat in Collins, who thrives in leaking out to the corners for spot-up threes and excels in transition, would infuse more athleticism, slashing, and marksmanship from downtown to their core.
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Jazz could get nice compensation in exchange for Collins
As for the Jazz, they’d get a sniper in Kevin Huerter in return for Collins. Utah has been shopping their standout sixth man Jordan Clarkson for months. Their other combo guard Collin Sexton has also been floated on the trade block.
Should the franchise opt to move on from both, they’d get a traditional gunner who can help the team on the perimeter with his career 37.6 percent clip from deep. Lyles is a talented forward who plays with pace, uses his size to get to his spots inside, and is stout from trey, draining 1.5 nightly triples at a 36.1 percent rate this year.
Seeing that the money works, the Kings could accelerate their push to ascend along the Western Conference standings by acquiring the fringe All-Star within the next three weeks.