Willie Cauley-Stein‘s improved performance may have taken away some of the need for Marvin Bagley, but the Kings would have drafted him second overall anyway, Jason Jones of The Athletic writes in a mailbag column. Sacramento could use another creator on offense, a role that could have been filled by Luka Doncic, who went one pick later, but Jones believes Bogdan Bogdanovic will help in that area when he recovers from his knee injury.
Kings management views Bagley as a positionless frontline player who won’t be limited to center or power forward. Doncic was in the top three on their draft board, along with Deandre Ayton, but Jones states that the Kings were sold on Bagley’s combination of athleticism, energy and rebounding, along with his potential to develop into a reliable scorer.
There’s more out of Sacramento, all courtesy of Jones:
- Veteran forward Zach Randolph may not play all season if he remains on the Kings’ roster. The front office informed him that it planned to concentrate on giving time to its young big men, and the team is already having difficulty finding enough minutes for all of them. Randolph averaged 14.5 PPG and 6.7 RPG last season, so he believes he can still contribute, even after turning 37 this summer. He is currently away from the team, but his expiring contract worth nearly $11.7MM could prove useful in a trade.
- Kosta Koufos, who recently returned from a hamstring injury to add to the logjam of big men, is a strong candidate to be re-signed after the season ends. Coach Dave Joerger and GM Vlade Divac are both strong supporters of Koufos, who is making $8.7MM in the final year of his current deal.
- The Kings considered trading away Skal Labissiere last season, but it would take a strong offer now for them to consider parting with him. With Cauley-Stein and Koufos both heading into free agency, a rotation spot would open up for Labissiere if either of them leaves.
- Joerger was planning to experiment with a three-guard rotation in training camp before Bogdanovic hurt his knee. With Buddy Hield playing well, that could be an option once Boganovic is back on the court.
- The Kings are willing to use their cap space to facilitate deals, but only if they get a significant asset in return. Sacramento would love to acquire a first-round pick after giving theirs up in a 2015 deal with the Sixers.
I love bagley but doncic has been the ROY so far.
Bagley don’t get enough minutes. And ROY don’t mean nothing I seen that before and don’t pan out. Hint (tyrek Evans)
Minnesota should attach one of the picks they get from Houston with Dieng to facilitate bringing in Jimmy.
Agree, Wolves could do that and should do that if the Houston trade is ever completed .
I think Bagley is largely a one position player (PF), so I don’t see any conflict with WCS (who is not a “real” FA, but an RFA who I assume they will retain). With Bjelica and Giles, I don’t see the need (or the minutes) for SL even next year.
They not only have some immediate cap space, but a bunch of expiring contracts, so they can definitely pick up stuff if they want to once the trade season begins.
Randolph was pretty good last year. Seems like he should still be playing somewhere. Can still get buckets.