European star swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic will not yet commit to joining the Kings next season and has signed with his Turkish team, Fenerbache, through next season. The 6’6” Bogdanovic posted on his Twitter feed that he hasn’t made a decision about his future plans, a post that was relayed by CSNBayArea.com’s James Ham. This may come as a surprise to Kings GM Vlade Divac, who said in recent interview that Bogdanovic would be “coming over next season as another asset.”
Bogdanovic has signed with his current Euroleague team through next season and has a contract buyout in excess of $1MM, international journalist David Pick tweets. Per the collective bargaining agreement, Sacramento can pay up to $675,000 of the buyout, according to Ham.
Bogdanovic and the Kings have operated as if he’ll played in the NBA next season since Sacramento acquired him from the Suns in a draft-night trade, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee tweets, though Bogdanovic’s Twitter post at least throws some doubt into that expectation.
“I will not discuss the NBA or make a decision on my future until after my season with Fenerbahce is finished,” Bogdanovic wrote on Twitter. “I always live in the present day and love playing for Fenerbahce.”
Bogdanovic was the 27th overall pick of the 2014 draft and has lived up to the billing of a draft-and-stash prospect. The Kings acquired his rights, along with the 13th and 28th overall picks in last year’s draft and a future second-rounder, from the Suns in exchange for the No. 8 overall selection. Phoenix used it to draft power forward Marquese Chriss.
Even though he’s under contract overseas through the 2017/18 season, Bogdanovic has financial incentives to pursue a buyout and join the Kings. Bogdanovic will no longer be bound by the restrictions of the NBA’s rookie scale. By waiting this long to make the jump to the NBA, he will be free to negotiate any amount.
It’s natural to speculate whether the DeMarcus Cousins trade has given Bogdanovic second thoughts about joining Sacramento. Not only did the Kings trade away their franchise player, but the centerpiece of the deal for Sacramento was rookie shooting guard Buddy Hield. That would seemingly take away any hope of Bogdanovic securing a starting spot, unless the Kings use him as an undersized small forward.
Bogdanovic is a member of the Serbian national team, which captured a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Rio. The Serbian-born wing is averaging 13.3 PPG, 4.3 APG and 2.9 RPG in 28 MPG this season, though he missed 23 games with an ankle injury. He’s generally considered one of Europe’s top perimeter shooters.
That Suns-Kings deal was pretty good for the Kings. I like it from the Suns point of view too, but with Boogie gone now,trading back five spots to add a late first and a guy who has the floor of a decent rotation player with 4 years of control looks like a good move.
That being said, I personally really like Marquese Chriss. If Sacramento hadn’t wasted the #13 pick, I’d call it a really good deal for both sides
Yeah
Agreed. That 13th pick was terrible
Why do people think Georgios Papagiannis is a terrible pick?
I am curious about that one.
Granted, he may take a year or two to develop, but Kobe took a couple of years to develop as well. (Not saying gp is anything close to that good, just making a point that some players take longer than others to develop into the player they can become). Granted, he could be a bust, but it is hard to tell based on a rookie season without much playing time. Some people were down on WCS as a draft pick because they had Cousins, but I have always felt that the Kings drafting WCS meant that Cousins wasn’t likely to stay in Sac long term. I was right to think it, and WCS might not ever become a superstar…. But if he can get to a point where he is a Charles Oakley type on the court, he is going to have a hell of a career. (10-12 ppg/8-10 RPG, tough defensive type) (maybe develops more of a well rounded game and bumps the scoring up 4-6 ppg….but don’t expect him to be a 25-30 ppg kind of guy on a nightly basis).
People forget though that Vlade wanted Buddy Hield in this last draft, when the Pelicans got him, he had to move down to a plan C, because plan B got drafted before they could pick as well. (Murray, who went to the Nuggets).
So, plan C was move down….which made sense. Draft a guy they didn’t need and trade him for guys they could stash and develop. The point, we don’t fully know what this team can become. So it is a little early to claim bust on anyone.
Don’t get me wrong, I worry about wasted picks for any team, reality is….most picks won’t be in the NBA 4 years after they were drafted. But one never knows who will become a star and who will become a good role player and who will fade out and bust. When Isaiah Thomas was taken with the last pick in the draft, nobody thought he would become the beast on the court he became. It is all a guessing game with the draft.