Spurs secretly playing starring role is sabotaging the Sacramento Kings

When in doubt, trade with the Sacramento Kings. That has seemingly been San Antonio Spurs GM Brian Wright's motto, with him hitting up Sacramento twice in little more than a year and fleecing them both times.

Kings fans should be livid, and for good reason. The Spurs acquired Harrison Barnes essentially for free by utilizing their cap space. He turned out to be the perfect fit next to star Victor Wembanyama, drilling 43.3% of his threes and providing savvy cuts and drives to the rim for easy baskets.

Giving up a starter for virtually nothing is bad enough for the Kings and great for the Spurs. But San Antonio also extracted a 2031 pick swap from Sacramento.

The Kings have only made the playoffs two times in the last 20 seasons. Their outlook for the next three seasons also looks bleak, with them ranking 25th out of 30 teams in ESPN's NBA future rankings.

That gives the Spurs hope that that 2031 pick swap could end up being the lottery pick. If that's the case, then that will be an absolute disaster for Sacramento and a gold mine for the Spurs.

The Spurs have the Sacramento Kings to thank for a bright future

If that horrible trade with the Spurs wasn't enough, the Kings made another disastrous deal when they shipped De'Aaron Fox to San Antonio. To be fair, the Kings did get an All-Star and an unprotected first-round pick from the Timberwolves via the Spurs back in the trade.

Then again, they foolishly failed to get their 2031 pick swap back in the deal. That means San Antonio got the best player in the trade in Fox and was able to hold on to a potential lottery pick courtesy of the Kings.

Just think, San Antonio could be in a position where in six years they are the best team in the NBA while the Kings are one of the worst. In that scenario, the Spurs could swap picks in the 2031 NBA Draft and end up with a potential top 10 selection. That would be huge considering the restrictive collective bargaining agreement, which is designed to break teams up.

Getting several great seasons from Fox would also be a huge deal, with them giving up less than his market value to acquire him, though they didn't have to give him a max contract.

The Spurs could build a contender thanks to the Sacramento Kings

Still, if he can be a worthy co-star to Victor Wembanyama, then San Antonio can become an immediate contender, thanks to the Kings. Meanwhile, Sacramento has continued to be a complete mess and likely will miss the playoffs next season.

That would add insult to injury with them having helped San Antonio become a potential contender. Meanwhile, they, themselves, are stuck in the basement of the Western Conference, where they have been for most of the last 20 years.

All told, the Kings were fleeced by the Spurs not once but twice with the Barnes and Fox trades. Given that they may have given up a future lottery pick in the Barnes trade, they could be worse off for years to come. On the other hand, the Spurs will hopefully benefit from Sacramento's incompetence going forward.