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Zach LaVine is arguably the biggest name popping up on the NBA trade market right now, but he's not the best player believed to be available and certainly not when you factor in the money he makes. 

As it goes with big-name players, this is, to at least some degree, is being covered as though it matters where LaVine wants to go should Chicago end up moving him. But it really doesn't.

Including the rest of this year, LaVine has three years remaining on his current contract, plus a player option for 2026-27 for a combined $178 million owed. This isn't an impending free agent situation. The Bulls don't have to move LaVine at all. And they surely don't have to move him where he wants to go. 

Still, we're going to keep hearing about LaVine's preferences. That's how this works. 

"LaVine and his representation obviously want [the Lakers] because of the Klutch Sports connection," Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times reported last week. 

Beyond the Lakers, now Sam Amick of The Athletic is reporting that LaVine would be "very amenable" to a trade that would land him with the Sacramento Kings.  

Again, big deal what LaVine, who hasn't played since Nov. 28 (foot) and is expected to be out several more weeks, would be amenable to; he can like the idea of playing for the Kings and alongside De'Aaron Fox all he wants, but the only question that matters is whether the Kings should share a mutual interest. 

To put it plainly, they shouldn't. 

For starters, the Bulls would certainly want Keegan Murray to come back in any deal. Amick reports that Sacramento is basically uninterested in moving Murray; I would argue they should be more open to moving Murray than it sounds like they currently are, but only for the right piece. LaVine is not the right piece. 

But let's say the Kings could pique Chicago's interest with a package that doesn't involve Murray. With LaVine on the books for $40 million this season, the Kings, just to satisfy salary-matching mandates, would likely have to ship off Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter as the main salary pieces, plus more money, and the Bulls would likely want draft compensation as well. 

No thanks. 

If I'm Sacramento, which is already an offensive beast, I'm absolutely fine with the high-octane shooting guard combination of Huerter and Malik Monk. I have to point out that Amick reports "[the] Kings' current roster focus appears to be on the value of (additional) shooting — and offense — above all else," but it's equally important to note that this is posturing season. 

If you believe the Kings would really love to trade for OG Anunoby, which they absolutely should, then putting the word out that offense is their priority might strengthen leverage with the Raptors, who are certainly going to ask for the farm if such a deal were to ever rise to the level of likely. 

The Kings can say they're fine with the little jump they've made from last season defensively (23rd to 15th), but they are not going to be a serious championship threat until they get better defensively. They should be offering Toronto a package of Barnes plus three draft picks for Anunoby, whose defensive presence would make Sacramento an immediate threat to win the West. 

Of course, they would need assurances that Anunoby intends to re-sign with them; he will definitely turn down his $19.9M player option for next season in search of a long-term, big-money deal, and he'll definitely get it. 

Sacramento could also go after Anunoby's current teammate in Toronto, Pascal Siakam, who is also set to become a free agent next summer, but he's making $37M this season, so now you're back to having to give up good players to match the money. 

Either way, giving up good players just to sign up for three more years and possibly $178M with LaVine would be crazy. The Kings do not need offense, and from a fit standpoint, LaVine as a high-usage scorer next to De'Aaron Fox makes little sense.

Yes, multiple playmakers is crucial come playoff time. The Clippers bet on that philosophy when they put James Harden next to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. But the Clippers are desperate to win a title right now. The Kings aren't. They are good enough to start thinking about going for it, but only in a way that is sensible both now and in the future. 

Even if you think LaVine is going to come back and go gangbusters the rest of this season (unlikely), we should all be able to agree that his contract is going to age poorly. So now Sacramento is going to enter its title-contention window with a LaVine-sized anchor around its ankle. 

And, again, the Kings already have the multiple-playmaker thing going. Monk is a beast at the end of games and Huerter slots terrifically in a shooting/secondary-playmaking role. Meanwhile, Fox and Domantas Sabonis run the show. 

There is no way LaVine shows up and the Kings get so much better offensively that it would be worth what they had to give up to get him in the first place. No chance. 

I think, or at least I hope for Sacramento's sake, that a lot of the LaVine chatter is just that, chatter. Because if it isn't, and the Kings were to actually pull the trigger on such a deal, their return on investment would be on a steep decline the minute LaVine shows up, and they wouldn't be any closer to contending anyway.