I just don’t see new general manager Monte McNair caving on Buddy Hield’s demands to be moved out of Sac. For too long now the Kings have been viewed by the MBA as having a soft front office that can easily be pushed around and taken advantage of by players, agents, or other NBA GMs.

McNair just doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would allow a talented, but unproven player who just signed a 4-year deal to stay in Sacramento to dictate the terms. If he did, that would open the floodgates and other players and their agents would immediately see that they can get their way without much effort. He might as well then just pack it up and go back to SoCal as his time with the Kings would have been no different than the last two GMs.

Buddy represents a skillset that Monte deeply admires. His three-point sharp-shooting is unmatched by most NBA players and there is no way the Kings could get equal value in return in a trade for him right now.

Hield can whine and gripe all he wants, but the truth is that there is a new GM in town and he needs to establish his control over the team and show the NBA that the Kings have a front office that will dictate the terms moving forward.

I honestly suspect to see both Hield and Bogdanovic in Kings uniforms when the season starts. When the trade deadline comes up, we’ll see...