MARCH 18TH: The Kings have officially announced their deal with White, via press release.
MARCH 15TH, 8:28am: Royce White will get his rumored second 10-day contract with the Kings, tweets Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports (Twitter links). As expected, White is working out in Sacramento while the team is on the road, and could be available to play when the team returns home on Tuesday. Spears says the Kings are confident White can travel. The timing of this deal means they will face the decision to keep White for the rest of the year or part ways with him before their next road trip arrives.
MONDAY, 12:16pm: The Kings appear set to keep Royce White on the team with a second 10-day contract, as TNT’s David Aldridge writes within his Morning Tip column for NBA.com. Aldridge suggests it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Kings sign the former first-round pick for the rest of the season after the second 10-day deal runs out.
White has played a pair of home games with the Reno Bighorns, Sacramento’s D-League affiliate, and will appear in two more before his initial 10-day contract expires at the end of Saturday. The Kings assigned the forward to the D-League at the same time they signed him Thursday.
White and the team haven’t had in-depth conversations about how to accommodate his mental health difficulties, and both sides are taking their partnership slowly, a source tells Aldridge. The Kings are interested in seeing if White still has the desire necessary to play at a high level and, if so, evaluating how he responds with the Bighorns, Aldridge hears. White is averaging 5.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 26.9 minutes over his two games with the Bighorns so far.
The plan is for White to join the big club on his second 10-day deal, which would set him up to make his official NBA debut. The Kings have a four-game homestand scheduled for shortly after White’s first 10-day contract expires, so that would allow him to play in games without having to travel and test his long-held fear of flying.