NBA Trade Rumors: Kings 'Trying Very Hard' To Move One Player

Although it's mostly quiet on many fronts, teams around the NBA are still working the back channels to try to get some final adjustments of their rosters done before training camp.

The Sacramento Kings, according to Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal, have been "trying very hard", to no avail apparently, to unload Malik Monk. The goal: Open up a roster spot (and some money) so that they can sign free agent and nine-time All-Star Russell Westbrook to help them out at the point guard spot.

The Sacramento Kings are reportedly ‘trying very hard’ to trade Malik Monk to open up a roster spot for Russell Westbrook, per @GrantAfseth

“The Sacramento Kings have been ‘trying very hard’ to trade Malik Monk this offseason, but they haven’t found a taker, an NBA source told… pic.twitter.com/9xakaY4YQ2
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) August 21, 2025

Monk is on an expiring $18.8 million deal for the 2025-26 season, and is coming off a career-best year in which he averaged personal bests with 17.2 points and 5.6 assists per game, in 31.6 minutes per game. His 45 starts in 65 games took him out of the running for Sixth Man of the Year, an award that he was runner-up for in 2023-24, and finished top 5 in the voting for the year before that.

In his three seasons in Sacramento, Monk has done what was asked of him, averaging 15.3 points and 4.8 assists, pretty good production coming off the bench. But the Kings see a veteran like Westbrook coming in to add playmaking as a priority.

The Kings, of course, have traded away two All-Star point guards over the past few years, in Tyrese Haliburton, and then De'Aaron Fox.

Overall, Monk, the 11th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, has played eight seasons in the NBA, averaging 12.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists, while spending time with the Charlotte Hornets and Los Angeles Lakers in addition to the Kings.

Westbrook would serve as the Kings' new Sixth Man if their plan to move Monk comes to fruition, as Sacramento has also already added point guard Dennis Schroder to run the first unit.