One of the Kings' trademarks this season has been the ability to compete on a nightly basis. They failed to meet their own standard Wednesday night during a 130-98 blow-out loss to the Golden State Warriors before a crowd of 17,023 at Oracle Arena.

But the more important competition Wednesday night appears to have been off the court, as the Kings reportedly have agreed to a even-player trade involving scoring guard Kevin Martin, center Hilton Armstrong, point guard Sergio Rodriguez and forward Kenny Thomas.

The four Kings appear to be going to the Houston Rockets for a package that includes swingman Tracy McGrady, athletic rookie Joey Dorsey and power forward Carl Landry.

The Kings organization would neither confirm nor deny the deal, in part because it is not official. The NBA's trade deadline is noon Thursday (PST). None of the Kings in the locker room would confirm they had been informed of a trade being done. There were reports that a third team could be involved.

But a source close to the deal acknowledged that the trade had been agreed upon. 

"We knew about the deal around halftime," the source said.

Another source looked at the players reported to be involved in the deal and just smiled, but said no more.

McGrady, who is in the final year of a contract paying him $22.8 million this season, has played just six games this season as he attempted to rehabilitate a knee injury. He was granted an indefinite leave of absence almost two months ago as his agent, Arn Tellem, attempted to arrange a trade.

McGrady has been rumored to be the object of many teams' affection because of his talent as well as his expiring contract.

The Kings, in effect, would get a tryout during the rest of the season to see if McGrady still can play, but also would receive a gem in Landry, who is a tough power player.

Martin, whose former agent Jason Levine now is a Kings assistant general manager, appeared to be in an upbeat mood, particularly for a player whose team lost by 32. Martin did not play in the second half of the loss at Golden State.

Trading Martin also may have cleared up a huge locker room problem created Tuesday night when the 6-foot-7 shooting guard opted not to return in the fourth quarter of the Kings' 95-92 home loss to Boston.

There appeared to be confusion between Kings coach Paul Westphal and Martin on just how that occurred, but Martin did not make many friends inside the locker room or within the organization by sitting down virtually the entire fourth quarter.

But the bottom line on this night was that competing appeared to be the farthest thing from the Kings' minds. The way Sacramento played, no one could have blamed team president Geoff Petrie had he traded the entire team for a couple of peanut butter and banana sandwiches.

Golden State guard C.J. Watson surpassed his career-high with 40 points. Watson scored 38 points on April 11, 2009 against Utah, but this had to be accomplished with far less effort. That's in part, because Sacramento did not make him work too hard to score.
Watson tied his season scoring high for a game with 23 during Wednesday night's first half. The Warriors led, 72-45, at the half after scoring 42 points in the second quarter.

The Kings (18-36) trailed, 30-29, entering the second, but the Warriors unleashed a barrage like few have experience before. Golden State out-scored Sacramento, 36-to-9, during the first 10 minutes of the second quarter.

There was little the Kings did right and virtually nothing the Warriors did wrong in the second. Sacramento made just 22 percent (5 of 23) of its field-goal attempts. That included a zero-for-seven performance from three-point range.

Conversely, Golden State, playing without guard Monta Ellis (left knee sprain), shot 64 percent (16 of 25) from the field, including six of eight from three-point range. The Warriors, who entered the game as the league's worst defensive team, totally dominated the Kings during the second quarter.

Often, that's enough to take control of a contest, and it was against a Kings team that showed little fight or character on this night.
However, it appears the Kings may have done their battling off the court Wednesday night.