The few, the proud, the Kings.

Once the owners of a bench worthy of envy, they joined the rest of the NBA last week by trading Keon Clark to the Utah Jazz for a second-round pick. It was a not-so-subtle salary dump that came with a statement even more pronounced -- that the Maloof family doesn't have any more interest in putting a house on Marvin Gardens or adding B&O to the railroad chain. Doing whatever it takes to win a championship is one thing, but the Maloofs have also said for years that they are running a business, even if no one in Sacramento heard that part.

Clark represented a much bigger analogy than a trade. For the first time since their surge to the elite, the Kings were downsizing. Not entirely in the checkbook -- Brad Miller just received $68 million -- but the other first time is another bottom line: They have questions about filling out their roster.
Clark was done in Sacramento as soon as the Miller sign-and-trade was completed. He was almost traded to the Philadelphia 76ers that day, but ending up in Utah was the most predictable of all destinations because the Jazz had the cap space to take him and enough interest to make the low-risk investment that could end after one season. The Jazz also had Greg Ostertag at center, so enough said.

So acquiring Miller was a three-for-one deal, a future center for Scot Pollard, Hedo Turkoglu and Clark. The difference is that Pollard and Turkoglu went for basketball reasons because that's what it took to seal the trade and satisfy Miller's new contract. Clark was strictly a financial call.

So the Kings, like most everyone else, started to make basketball decisions for business reasons. Jon Barry for Mateen Cleaves was the same thing, except the Kings received a younger player at a position much harder to fill -- point guard as opposed to Barry's shooting guard. That wasn't so for Clark to Utah.

You don't have to understand the microscopic intricacies of the salary cap and luxury tax to comprehend what it means for the Kings' roster. They have 10 players. One, Darius Songaila, has never played in the NBA. Another, Gerald Wallace, has spent two seasons near the end of the bench. The same for a third, Lawrence Funderburke, although it has been six seasons. There isn't an experienced backup for small forward Peja Stojakovic. Bobby Jackson is the experienced backup to shooting guard Doug Christie, but Jackson and point guard Mike Bibby play together only in certain situations.