The Sacramento Kings are reportedly nearing a trade for Indiana Pacers wing Chris Duarte, according to Shams Charania.
Sacramento is expected to offer “draft compensation” in return for the 26-year-old former lottery pick, who made NBA All-Rookie Second-Team in 2022.
Duarte averaged 13.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 steals per game as a rookie. But he took a step back as a sophomore, averaging just 7.9 points and 2.5 rebounds with 1.4 assists and 0.5 steals per game.
Perhaps one reason for the decline in his on-court performance was the loss of Domantas Sabonis, who was traded to Sacramento in exchange for Tyrese Haliburton.
Sabonis reportedly took Duarte out to dinner before the Kings hosted the Pacers last season, per SI.com. The All-NBA big man has said that he has maintained a relationship with the former Oregon star (via Indy Star):
“We keep in touch a lot, so we’re pretty close.”
The two also had fantastic chemistry on the court during their time with the Pacers. Duarte made 26 field goals after handoffs during his rookie season, per Synergy. None came after the Pacers traded Sabonis. He made just eight in his second professional season.
Even though the trade was made midway through the 2021-22 season, via NBA.com, no one recorded more passes (369) or assists (43) to Duarte when he was a rookie than Sabonis.
| TEAMMATE (min: 250 minutes) | AST/36 | PASS/36 |
| T.J. McConnell | 1.84 | 21.0 |
| Domantas Sabonis | 1.82 | 15.6 |
| Tyrese Haliburton | 1.48 | 17.3 |
| Buddy Hield | 1.31 | 7.9 |
| Andrew Nembhard | 1.09 | 11.8 |
| Malcolm Brogdon | 1.07 | 16.5 |
| Goga Bitadze | 0.87 | 12.2 |
| Bennedict Mathurin | 0.55 | 5.4 |
| Oshae Brissett | 0.45 | 6.4 |
There was a noticeable decline in performance for Duarte after the trade during his rookie season.
Duarte averaged 24.0 points with 3.8 assists per 100 possessions when he shared the floor with Sabonis, per PBPStats, and 21.9 points with 3.5 assists per 100 without the big man.
The numbers without Sabonis were more aligned with his performance during his second professional season, in which he averaged 19.2 points and 3.4 assists per 100.
the Sabonis-Duarte connection is BACK! pic.twitter.com/G6Ga1fxDfB
— J r u e (@thatl0calguy) June 30, 2023
As a rookie, he had an above-average 3-point percentage with Sabonis on the floor (38.5 percent) but dropped below league average (34.4 percent) during his minutes without the big man (34.8 percent) in 2021-22.
Duarte shot 31.6 percent from beyond the arc as a sophomore in his first full season without Sabonis.
Overall, his effective field-goal percentage with Sabonis (53.0 percent) was about on par with the league average (53.2 percent) when Duarte was a rookie but was far below without him (47.8 percent) on the Pacers. That slump continued into his sophomore year (45.2 percent) as well.
But playing alongside Sabonis once again, Duarte can potentially have a bounce-back season in Sacramento.
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