What assets could the Sacramento Kings get for Willie Cauley-Stein?

Willie Cauley-Stein’s time with the Sacramento Kings appears to be coming to an end. But what assets could the Kings get back in return?

Willie Cauley-Stein has had a frustrating four-year tenure with the Sacramento Kings. After being drafted sixth overall back in 2015, the Kings hoped that they had found their center of the future in the talented, promising big man.

And at times, Cauley-Stein was just that.

His athletic profile and ability to run the floor effectively make him an excellent fit in Sacramento’s up-tempo offense. He moves quite well for a player of his size and is more than capable of switching off to guard smaller players on defense.

Unfortunately, that’s not the production that the Kings got out of Cauley-Stein on a nightly basis.

“Inconsistent” is a word that has followed Cauley-Stein around throughout his career. He would show flashes of greatness looking like a perennial all-star only to become invisible the next game and struggle all around.

It’s been a frustrating few years for both sides and it appears likely to come to an end very soon. The Kings were already expected to move on from Cauley-Stein this offseason and a recent development appears to have solidified that.

Roger Montgomery, Cauley-Stein’s agency representative from Roc Nation Sports, spoke to the Sacramento Bee and had the following to say.

"“I really think Willie needs a fresh start. Based on how things have gone for him there in Sacramento, I just think it’s time for Willie to move on and we’d really like him to move on.”"

Cauley-Stein is set to be a restricted free agent this season after the expiration of his rookie contract. The Kings could retain his rights by simply offering a qualifying offer by June 30th, which is currently valued at around $6.3 million.

In that same report, Montgomery also indicated that he and his client hope that Sacramento wouldn’t even extend the qualifying offer. However, this simply doesn’t make sense for the Kings.

If the Kings extend a qualifying offer to Cauley-Stein then he will officially become a restricted free agent. But if they don’t, then Cauley-Stein will become an unrestricted free agent — which makes sense for the former Kentucky big man as he’ll likely make more money, but doesn’t make much sense for the Kings.

Sacramento will be looking to receive assets in a return on their investment. While it would be “nice” of the organization to allow Cauley-Stein to expand his market in unrestricted free agency, it just doesn’t make business sense for the Kings.

And sports are a business, after all.

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If no other team offers Cauley-Stein an offer sheet, then the Kings will be able to trade him away this offseason and get something back in return. The same could be said for if the Kings match any reasonable offer sheet offered by another team.

Perhaps they could get future draft capital back in return or even a player who could be a part of the rotation in the near future. Even if it’s just the dreaded cash considerations, that would still be better than just letting him walk.

Besides, the market for a young, athletic center with untapped potential shouldn’t exactly be stagnant. While Cauley-Stein has struggled with inconsistency — on top of rebounding and rim protecting issues — there are still plenty of teams that could benefit from acquiring his services.

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And instead of just letting him leave for nothing as an unrestricted free agent, it would be wise for the Kings to at least extend the qualifying offer and try and get something back in return.

If another team extends an offer sheet that’s too rich, the Kings could simply not match the offer and lose nothing in the process.

The same goes for if Sacramento is tight on cap space at any given moment. There’s nothing stopping them from just rescinding their qualifying offer and then letting Cauley-Stein become an unrestricted free agent.

But at the very least, there’s absolutely no harm in extending a qualifying offer, at least initially.

It may not be in the best interest of Cauley-Stein, but sports are a stone-cold business. And sometimes teams have to make business decisions for themselves.

This is one of those instances.