https://youtu.be/HChIcfIlsfI
Sometimes I see a trade go down and I don’t understand why it had to happen. That’s sort of how I feel about the trade that sent Moe Harkless and Chris Silva to the Kings in exchange for Nemanja Bjelica. Maybe there was some sort of arcane salary-cap wizardry that was happening here, but all I see as an outsider looking in is three guys who were barely playing getting shuffled around for fun. I mean, “for fun” is definitely a valid reason for a trade to go down, since it makes the trade deadline more exciting and gives all the paper-pushers in the front office some more paper to push, but from a basketball perspective, it’s just like, why?
If the Heat thought they were trading for somebody who was going to help them solidify their playoff seed, that wasn’t the case. Bjelica’s career had gone off the rails this season in Sacramento, and it’s gone further off the rails in Miami. He barely plays. Meanwhile, the Kings received a big box of nothing (Chris Silva) and a big box of something that might as well be nothing (Moe Harkless). Somehow, Harkless has a starting job in Sacramento and is actually performing somewhat capably in that role (watch this video to see just how capably he is performing), but the question remains, why would the Kings even want somebody like Harkless? Did they specifically target him? Was his name written on the “whiteboard of trade targets” with a circle around it?
Remember, the Kings aren’t making any noise this season. They’re occupying that tier of existence that is one step below “mediocre” and one step above “awful”. Harkless not only doesn’t move the needle, but he actively grabs the needle and prevents it from moving. And Harkless, like Bjelica, is in the final year of his contract, so it’s not like the Kings get a long-term piece here. Maybe they get his Bird rights or something (LOL), but they almost certainly won’t bother re-signing him. Although re-signing a dude like Harkless to a long contract would be the most Kings thing ever.
I feel like the Kings aren’t in a worse position after this head-scratching trade, but they’re not really in a better position either, unless there are luxury tax implications that I’m not familiar with. It’s like trading Royal Ivey for Francisco Elson. But congrats to Harkless for scoring 20 points for the first time in two years and hopefully he can parlay this stint of decent play into a new contract somewhere. Otherwise, I look forward to him averaging 7 PPG for Virtus Baloney.