3-For-3: Kings Trade Players With Houston Rockets
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - The Kings made a move Wednesday, not to stay in Sacramento but to send three players out of town.
The trade deal with Houston will bring three new players to town as the Kings get rid of their first-round 2012 NBA Draft pick Thomas Robinson.
Houston Rockets players Patrick Patterson, Cole Aldrich, and Toney Douglas will be trading places with the Kings' Robinson, Francisco Garcia, and Tyler Honeycutt.
Loyal Kings fans lined up out the door of Bella Bru Café in north Natomas behind a sign that read "Join us for a meet and greet with Thomas Robinson."
"Well we came all the way up from Stockton, you gotta take the good with the bad. If he doesn't show up, he doesn't show up," said one fan.
Robinson didn't make it to the café after the Kings announced they traded him just hours before he was set to appear Wednesday.
"I don't know, the Maloofs screwed us over again," said another disappointed fan.
Robinson had been the Kings number one draft pick this season, and the NBA's fifth overall draft pick.
"You could see (Robinson) being a really good player down the road," said another fan.
Robinson was also expected to join the Kings' announcer Grant Napear on his radio show Wednesday night, but wouldn't make it there either.
"I don't fault the Maloofs. If they put some money in their pocket, they're the owners," he said on his show.
Napear wouldn't say trading Robinson was wrong.
"In terms of basketball, this makes them the better team right now," he said.
He added that no one could predict what Robinson's potential could be like in the coming years.
