Kings guard Garrett Temple has informed Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link) that he’ll exercise his player option for 2018/19. Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee confirms (via Twitter) that the option has been picked up. The move will put Temple in line for a guaranteed salary of $8MM next season.
Temple, 32, enjoyed a solid 2017/18 campaign for the Kings, averaging a career-best 8.4 PPG to go along with 2.3 RPG and 1.9 APG. He also posted a shooting line of .418/.392/.769.
While Temple’s numbers were respectable, he almost certainly would have been unable to match his $8MM option salary on the open market, so his decision doesn’t come as a surprise. Sacramento had been planning for Temple to opt in, and should still have more cap room available than most NBA teams next week.
The Kings, who have been linked to free agents like Jabari Parker, Zach LaVine, and Mario Hezonja, project to have approximately $18.7MM in cap room, assuming they don’t trade or release any players with guaranteed contracts.
How on earth did this dude ever got a contract for 8MM… SMH. His numbers are respectable… SMH