The Sacramento Kings initially appeared in the NBA playoffs on Athlon Sports for an incredible comparison.

The Sacramento Kings, with the core of Demar DeRozan, Zach Lavine and Domantas Sabonis, is expected to push point guards during the offseason to allow them to attend Western Conferences.

It can be pointed out that the Kings have two elite point guards on the roster, De'aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. If Sacramento keeps any of them, they might be a playoff staple right now, rather than a mid-range team without a first-round draft pick.

The Kings aren't the only team that helped build a finals team, and they probably aren't the only franchise that hopes they can take back everything.

The Los Angeles Clippers sold to Paul George to send the drafts of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams to the Oklahoma City Thunder. This season, the Thunder did what the Clippers had never been able to do and went straight to the finals on the backs of both players.

The Toronto Raptors also sent its core 2019 deal Pascal Siakam to the Pacers, who was eventually replaced by Brandon Ingram.

Ingram and Siakam play the same position, but one person is obviously better than the other.

"Toronto is one of the teams sitting on the feet, and it's fun because it's kind of like hearing about Sacramento, because Sacramento is one of them," said Brian Windhorst of ESPN. "I don't think it's breaking news. Of course, the interesting thing is that Sacramento wants a point guard."

Not a high praise compared to the Raptors who missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons. If the Kings, Clippers and Raptors never made these trades, then the situation in the NBA Finals could be very different.

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This story was first appeared on June 2, 2025 by Athlon Sports.