Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sixth Man of the Year finalist Malik Monk made it pretty clear that he plans to test the open market in free agency this summer, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
“I can go somewhere else with a lot more money and be in a worse situation, so you never know,” the Kings guard said. “I’ve got a great agent who’s going to do his job. I think my job is done.”
Sacramento holds Monk’s Early Bird rights, so the team is somewhat limited in what it can offer him this summer. Monk said in a perfect world, he’d “definitely” like to return, but he’s not sure what the future will hold, as Anderson relays (Twitter links).
“I came here, (played with) one of my best friends, turned the organization around, turned the city around,” Monk said. “The city loves me and I love the city, so the emotions are everywhere right now.”
Monk added that he would prefer a starting role, but he’s willing to come off the bench if it’s better for whichever team he signs with, per James Ham of ESPN 1320 and The Kings Beat (Twitter link).
Here’s more on the Kings:
- Even though they lost their second play-in game in disappointing fashion, the Kings have undoubtedly played much better under 2023 Coach of the Year Mike Brown the past two seasons. Sources tell Anthony Slater and Sam Amick of The Athletic that Brown is essentially entering the last season of his contract (2025/26 is a mutual option), and he hopes to sign a long-term extension that includes a raise. However, owner Vivek Ranadive hasn’t presented an extension offer to this point, and it’s unclear if he’ll be willing to commit to Brown going forward, per The Athletic.
- Anderson of The Sacramento Bee recently released an offseason preview for the Kings, with Monk’s future the biggest question mark.
- In a feature for The Ringer, Howard Beck wonders if Sacramento will be able to escape NBA purgatory as a good-but-not-great team. “We knew the expectations were coming for us right away,” GM Monte McNair told Beck. “That’s what we’ve seen this year. And that’s the reality of the NBA. For us, it’s trying to figure out: How do we continue to take those next steps? And that means getting back into the playoffs and eventually winning a round or two.”
- Despite dealing with injuries and inconsistent minutes, rookie forward Sasha Vezenkov said he had no regrets about coming stateside last summer, Ham tweets. “I made the right choice, no doubt about it,” last season’s EuroLeague MVP said. The 28-year-old will earn $6.7MM next season, with a $7MM team option for ’25/26.
Yes, Monk.
My prediction
Pistons are likely to give Monk 3 years contract $75 million with team option on the third year.
Won’t work. Kings will offer 4 year for total 78mm
Jazz then say we beat that and pistons can bud it up over 20mm
Monk will get paid!
I believe that nba does not allow to Sign and Trade Monk.
If yes,
Trade him to Lakers for that 2031 first round pick and Vincent.
Silly-vin the bot strikes again. Monk is a lower tiered player whom the NBA could care less about vetoing.
Sign and trade can be done if 3 years or more. It requires the player and teams to agree and it can be done ✅
well if he can turn a city around, he’s wasting his time playing basketball.
They are trading from a deficit as they don’t have good outgoing salaries or young pre Rfa’s to involve in trades- Going to take a ton of draft capital to net a top 40 player, I’m not sure that player exists for them this offseason, they had a good window with Barnes expiring to make a deal 1.5 years ago