The Kings have signed Luc Mbah a Moute, the team announced (on Twitter). Marc Stein of ESPN.com reported overnight that they were close to a one-year deal, a day after Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that the sides were making progress. It’s unclear just how much the Darren Matsubara client is getting, though Sacramento is in line for a $2.814MM room exception after clearing cap room this summer for a handful of other deals.
Mbah a Moute returns to Sacramento, where he played nine games at the start of the 2013/14 season before the Kings traded him to the Timberwolves for Derrick Williams, who left this month in free agency to sign with the Knicks. Thus, today’s move is something of an about-face on that deal, which came during the tenure of former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro.
New Kings vice president of basketball and franchise operations Vlade Divac brings Mbah a Moute from the Sixers, and the seven-year veteran forward had expressed interest in returning to Philadelphia. The Sixers under GM Sam Hinkie have nonetheless rarely signed veterans such as Mbah a Moute, who arrived in Philadelphia as part of the Kevin Love trade. Mbah a Moute made 61 starts this past season, but he also served as a mentor for Joel Embiid, who’s now likely to miss all of 2015/16 as he continues to recover from a broken foot.