Sactown Royalty: Kings Spend Their In-Season Cap Space On A Three-Month Rental

Over at Sactown Royalty, SB Nation’s Kings blog, Ziller asks “Is Hilton Armstrong what the Kings need?” His answer: probably not, but it’s possible the front office sees something in Armstrong that he doesn’t.

However, the greater concern for Ziller is that the Kings used a key asset — in-season cap space — to get Armstrong. Sacramento was one of the few teams in the league that could take back additional salary in a trade, which would have come in handy as teams over the luxury tax (like the Hornets) traded away even better players than Armstrong. But because of the Armstrong trade, the Kings no longer have that ability, and Ziller wonders whether Armstrong was the proper player on which to use that asset.

The cost here, really, is a decent little trade chip called “Sacramento’s in-year cap space.” Oklahoma City used its cap space to get Eric Maynor in his first season on a four-year rookie deal. Sacramento used its cap space to get … a three-month Hilton Armstrong audition. A first or early second round pick would certainly seem to be more valuable than the Armstrong audition. Flexibility in the trade market would certainly seem to be more valuable, as well. With a full month left until the trade deadline, one can only imagine the Kings actually see something they like in Armstrong and have decided risking losing the free audition isn’t worth sitting on the valuable cap space another five weeks. Or perhaps the front office is that frustrated with the frontcourt’s defense that inserting Armstrong looks like a quick fix. We’ll see.