AUGUST 8: Harkless’ deal with the Kings became official late on Saturday night, according to a press release from the team.
“Moe is a consummate professional with a unique unselfishness that makes our group better,” GM Monte McNair said in a statement. “He provides the team with physical defensive versatility and we are fortunate to have Moe’s leadership and veteran experience.”
AUGUST 2: Maurice Harkless has agreed to re-sign with the Kings on a two-year, $9MM deal, agent Nima Namakian told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
The journeyman forward was part of a swap with Miami in March that sent Nemanja Bjelica to the Heat. He averaged 6.9 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 24.9 MPG during 26 games with Sacramento, including 20 starts.
Harkless has played for six franchises during a career that began in 2012.
Sacramento possessed non-Bird rights on the defensive-minded Harkless, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. That allowed the Kings to sign him at 120% of his $3.6M 2020/21 salary without eating into their $9.536MM mid-level exception.
Gives them defense they desperately need as a combo forward, obviously mostly as a 4. They added defenders after the trade deadline, but have since lost a couple of those guys. Hope to see Robert Woodard finally used, and they should have a much stronger guard rotation now. Another defender at one of those 3/4 spots behind Barnes, and they could potentially be much improved. Always a huge De’Aaron Fox fan