Boston Celtics reporter dismisses Kings' DeMar DeRozan trade: 'Mediocrity at best'

When the Boston Celtics make blockbuster trades, the NBA Championship picture gets drastically shaken up. But when most other teams make trades, they are often of very little consequence to most of the Association.

Enter the DeMar DeRozan trade. On July 6, the Sacramento Kings agreed to a sign-and-trade to acquire DeRozan; sending away forward Harrison Barnes and an unprotected 2031 pick swap to the San Antonio Spurs and guard Chris Duarte, two second-round draft picks and cash to the Chicago Bulls.

The Athletic's Jay King shared how unmoved he was by the deal, labeling the potential of the Kings' new core as "mediocrity at best."

"Sad to know that these same fans will eventually realize Fox-DeRozan-Sabonis-Monk is a comical fit and destined for mediocrity at best," King posted on X.

This isn't the first deal King has criticized this offseason. After the New Orleans Pelicans acquired Dejounte Murray, King ripped the lineup fit alongside Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, and CJ McCollum.

"Don’t know if the Pelicans are done dealing but pretty sure you couldn’t dream up a worse fit than Murray/McCollum/Ingram/Zion," King wrote.

Boston Celtics seeing teams build rosters to beat them in 2024 offseason

As the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair once said, to be the best, you have to beat the best. The Celtics are the class of the Association right now and are seeing teams build their rosters with beating Boston in mind.

The Philadelphia 76ers are the most obvious. Signing Paul George is one thing, but adding notorious Cs provocateur Caleb Martin revealed the plot in plain sight. Ditto for the NY Knicks landing Mikal Bridges.

Out west, the Celtics are slightly less of a focus, but NOLA acquired Murray and Sacramento acquired DeRozan in hopes they'd have championship-level rosters.

Whether or not they make any dent at all is another question entirely.