The Kings entered the 2016/17 season with playoff aspirations, and flirted with the No. 8 spot for much of the first half, with new head coach Dave Joerger opting to lean on his veterans at the expense of regular minutes for many of the team’s young players. After Rudy Gay went down with an Achilles injury and DeMarcus Cousins was traded to the Pelicans, Sacramento’s rebuild began in earnest, and Joerger will likely make sure his youngsters see more action in 2017/18.
The Cousins trade was widely viewed as a mistake by the Kings at the time, with many pundits arguing that the club dumped the All-NBA center for 25 cents on the dollar. However, Buddy Hield looked good down the stretch, and the Pelicans’ inability to make a late-season run ensured that Sacramento landed a second top-10 pick as a result of the deal. Even if neither Hield nor this year’s No. 10 pick develop into the sort of impact player that Cousins has become, they can be solid building blocks for the new-look Kings.
With the rebuild underway, here are five key questions facing the Kings this offseason:
1. Is the front office stable?
Reports on the Kings’ front office in recent years have suggested that there are too many cooks in the kitchen, with rival teams uncertain of who to call to discuss trades and who has the authority to sign off on moves.
The team’s handling of the Cousins situation reflected that front office uncertainty — the move came shortly after Cousins’ camp was assured he wouldn’t be going anywhere, and reports indicated that Hield was acquired because of owner Vivek Ranadive‘s fondness for him, despite the fact that GM Vlade Divac ostensibly has the final say on basketball decisions.
The Kings solidified their front office a little in April by adding respected veteran exec Scott Perry to the mix as an executive VP of basketball operations. Perry is believed to be taking over some day-to-day duties from Divac, and it’s worth wondering if his presence has contributed to the Kings getting a few more first-round prospects in for workouts this spring than they have in past years.
2. What will the Kings do with their two top-10 picks?
Speaking of first-round prospects, the Kings will be considering a number of them this year, since they’ll have the opportunity to nab two top players in what’s viewed as a strong draft class. Still, there aren’t necessarily any perfect fits for Sacramento with the 5th and 10th overall selections.
The Kings reportedly like De’Aaron Fox a lot, and he’d certainly be an ideal choice to plug in at point guard. But Fox’s stock has been on the rise since a strong March Madness showing, and there’s a good chance he’ll be off the board by the time the Kings are on the clock at No. 5.
With a pair of lottery picks in hand, Sacramento certainly has the ammunition available to trade up and grab Fox if they really like him — and as we saw with Hield, the Kings may be willing to sacrifice some value in order to land a player they want badly. But that would be a high price to pay, particularly when there are other good options available, including at point guard.
If the draft goes as expected, the Kings should have the chance to choose from players like Jayson Tatum, Jonathan Isaac, Malik Monk, and Dennis Smith Jr. at No. 5, and perhaps guys like Frank Ntilikina and Donovan Mitchell at No. 10.
3. Will Bogdan Bogdanovic arrive stateside this season?
In addition to deciding what to do with this year’s first-round picks, the Kings will also have to determine how to handle one of 2014’s first-rounders. Bogdanovic was one of the players Sacramento acquired in a draft-day deal with Phoenix, and he has a chance to make an impact right away, having shot 43.0% on three-pointers in Euroleague action this past season.
Of course, since it has been three years since he was drafted, Bogdanovic also isn’t obligated to sign a rookie scale contract, meaning the Kings will likely have to dip into their cap room to sign him. Considering the club could have upwards of $50MM+ in space this season, that shouldn’t be a problem, and we should see Bogdanovic in a Kings uniform in a matter of months.
4. What will the Kings do with their cap room?
Even if they sign Bogdanovic, the Kings should have a significant chunk of cap room available this season, especially if Arron Afflalo is waived and Langston Galloway opts out of his contract.
Sacramento will have to reach the salary floor one way or another, but top free agents won’t have the Kings high on their wish lists, and the Kings shouldn’t be going after pricey free agents anyway. Divac should look to the 2016 Lakers – who spent big on Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov – as a lesson in what not to do with cap room during a rebuild. There’s no need for the Kings to invest in long-term deals for veteran role players when they’re still multiple years from being a legit contender.
Instead, the Kings should be searching for any opportunity they can to acquire another team’s bad contract, with an asset of value attached to it. The Trail Blazers are one potential trade partner, since Portland has three first-round picks and $132MM+ in guaranteed salary on its 2017/18 cap. If the Kings could get one of of those picks along with Evan Turner‘s pricey contract, that would be a good use of cap room — Turner could even be a useful, albeit overpriced, rotation piece, replacing Afflalo. The Hornets, Pistons, and Thunder may be among the other teams willing to attach assets to bad contracts.
5. Will any Kings free agents be back?
Gay has opted out of his contract already, and Galloway could follow suit. In addition to those players, Tyreke Evans, Darren Collison, and Ty Lawson will be unrestricted free agents, while Ben McLemore is eligible for restricted free agency.
Gay, who has publicly expressed frustration with the organization in the past, is almost certainly gone, but what about the others? With the rebuilding process underway, many of those veterans may prefer to head to a contender, but rebuilding clubs often find value in keeping a couple vets around for locker room purposes.
McLemore is a trickier case. He’s still just 24 years old, is a former seventh overall pick, and received rave reviews from the Kings’ coaching staff last preseason. However, he didn’t get a ton of opportunities to prove his worth during the regular season, averaging a career-low 19.3 MPG in 61 contests. McLemore’s .382 3PT% was a career best and it’s not like the Kings can’t afford to retain him, but it remains to be seen if he’s part of the team’s long-term plans.
Here’s where things currently stand for the Kings financially:
Guaranteed Salary
- Kosta Koufos ($8,393,000)
- Garrett Temple ($8,000,000)
- Willie Cauley-Stein ($3,704,160)
- Buddy Hield ($3,675,480)
- Georgios Papagiannis ($2,301,360)
- Matt Barnes ($2,133,542) — Waived via stretch provision.
- Anthony Tolliver ($2,000,000) — Waived.
- Malachi Richardson ($1,504,560)
- Arron Afflalo ($1,500,000) — Partial guarantee. Non-guaranteed portion noted below.1
- Skal Labissiere ($1,312,611)
- Caron Butler ($517,220) — Waived via stretch provision.
- Total: $35,041,933
Player Options
- Langston Galloway ($5,434,000)
- Total: $5,434,000
Team Options
- None
Non-Guaranteed Salary
- Arron Afflalo ($11,000,000) — Partial guarantee. Guaranteed portion noted above.1
- Total: $11,000,000
Restricted Free Agents
- Ben McLemore ($4,187,598 qualifying offer / $10,022,205 cap hold)
- Total: $10,022,205
Cap Holds
- Rudy Gay ($20,000,000) — Player option declined.
- Tyreke Evans ($15,991,931)
- Darren Collison ($9,935,963)
- No. 5 overall pick ($4,609,200)
- No. 10 overall pick ($3,057,240)
- Ty Lawson ($1,471,382)
- Bogdan Bogdanovic ($1,423,560)
- Total: $56,489,276
Trade Exceptions
- Omri Casspi TPE ($2,963,814) — Expires 2/20/18
Projected Salary Cap: $101,000,000
Maximum Cap Room: $55,844,782
- The Kings have cap holds for a pair of top-10 draft picks to account for, but their guaranteed contracts don’t amount to much. Taking into account their draft picks, guaranteed salaries, and three cap charges for empty roster spots, the Kings would have just $45,155,218 in team salary. However, that would hinge on Galloway turning down his player option, Afflalo being waived, every free agent leaving, and Bogdanovic not being signed this season, so Sacramento is unlikely to have quite that much room heading into free agency.
Footnotes:
- Afflalo’s salary becomes fully guaranteed after June 23.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders and The Vertical was used in the creation of this post. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
If they can get Fox, that would be significant for them, but they should probably look to go with Tatum and Mitchell at 5 and 10 when he is off the board. I don’t see Smith still being there at 10
Actually, I for some reason mixed up a couple of pieces on their roster. Jonathan Isaac is definitely still a possibility for them over Tatum at 5. Tatum is a scorer, which I feel like they need at the 4/3 spots. But Isaac is the better all around player with the higher ceiling. It probably depends on how they feel about a couple of their other young pieces
Tatum and Ntilikina would be quite the draft haul. Imagine if they can grab the Pistons pick attached to Reggie Jackson and then trade 10 and 12 up to 4 or 6 and take Tatum and Isaac and hope for a bounce back from Reggie Jackson. That’s an interesting team to build around.
So they’d be getting reggie jackson and 12 for what? Also, NtilikIna will be gone before 10…and orlando and phoenix wouldn’t trade back.