With a few hours remaining before this season's buyout deadline, the Kings and Aaron Brooks are working on a buyout for the veteran guard, reports Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee (via Twitter). Nothing is finalized yet, according to Jones.
After being a regular part of the Kings' rotation for the first two months of the season, Brooks has received less consistent playing time since then. Head coach Keith Smart has recently been using Isaiah Thomas and Jimmer Fredette at the point, with Brooks only appearing in four games in February.
Brooks, who is earning $3.25MM this season, also has a player option worth about $3.4MM for 2013/14. If the Kings were to agree to release the 28-year-old, he'd likely have to give up that option money, as well as a little of this season's salary. Assuming the two sides can reach an agreement, the Rockets, who pursued Brooks last summer, may be interested again, tweets Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. Kennedy adds (via Twitter) that the Knicks could be a nice fit as well, since they've been linked to Brooks in the past and were pursuing another point guard prior to the deadline.
For Brooks to be playoff-eligible for another team, the Kings would have to request waivers on him by 10:59pm CST tonight.