Live Bar, January 11th, Kings team reporter James Ham recently talked about the reason why the team is unwilling to replace Siakam with Keegan Murray in an interview.
According to a previous report by American journalist Michael Grange, the reason why the negotiations between the Kings and Raptors ended was that the Kings were unwilling to send Keegan Murray away and were unwilling to give Siakam a maximum salary contract this summer.
james ham said: "The Kings regard Keegan as a star player. I talked to them and I asked, 'Last season, would you be willing to trade Keegan for Markkanen?' The answer was no. The Kings believe that Keegan will be better than Markkanen. So this should answer the Kings' positioning of Murray."
So far this season, Keegan has averaged 15.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game, and his three-point shooting rate is 37%. Markkanen scored 23.5 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 0.9 steals, and shot 38.6% from three-point range.
