JULY 21: Noel’s new contract is official, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.
JULY 18: The Kings and free agent center Nerlens Noel have agreed to a one-year contract, agent George Langberg tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Wojnarowski refers to it as a $3.1MM deal, which suggests it’s a minimum-salary agreement. The veteran’s minimum for a player with 10 years of NBA experience in 2023/24 is $3,196,448.
Noel, who has appeared in 467 career regular season games since being drafted sixth overall in 2013, didn’t play much in 2022/23. After being traded from New York to Detroit during the 2022 offseason, the 29-year-old appeared in 14 games for the Pistons, who bought him out at the end of February. He signed a 10-day contract with Brooklyn and played in three games for the Nets, but didn’t get a second 10-day and finished the season as a free agent.
Known as an athletic frontcourt defender who has the ability to generate turnovers and protect the rim, Noel enjoyed his best season in recent years in New York in 2020/21, when he averaged 5.1 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks in 24.2 minutes per night across 64 contests.
It’s unclear whether or not Noel’s new contract with Sacramento will be fully guaranteed, but he should be in position to claim an opening-night roster spot. Prior to their agreement with Noel, the Kings were carrying just 13 players on standard guaranteed contracts.
Although Alex Len re-signed with the Kings this offseason, Richaun Holmes and Chimezie Metu aren’t returning and Neemias Queta is still a free agent, so there could be rotation minutes available at center behind Domantas Sabonis.
Good for Noel. He will be catching some oops from Mitchell!
The past few seasons … Every “oop” caught by Nerlens, was followed by a couple of months on the injured list. Pretty much a spectator collecting a check at this point.
Nets should have had him on the playoff roster
Solid pickup. Definitely can backup the Center position. Plus he can play with Sabonis. When Kings go big. Kings made some good moves. Good draft picks too. They will be better this yr. And they were good last yr. Growing up !!!!!
Was hoping the Sixers would sign him. They need a backup center.
Sixers ruined him. They don’t deserve him
Could’ve ran the biggest lineup in history lol Mo Bamba, Paul Reed, Joel, Montrez, and Nerlens. Missed opportunity indeed
Good back up center can start if needed. Wonder why teams don’t sign him longer
He’s always hurt.
Just sign Queta and be done with it, very high upside.
Upside doesn’t matter when your floor is as low as his. He’s had a disappointing summer to say the least. Need depth at C if Domas goes down. Len and Noel are serviceable
If healthy, Noel can defend the 5 spot at a high level. He’s not just a guy who runs into a block now and then. He can play man without fouling, guard space and protect the rim. If healthy.
Despite mostly nagging injuries. He’s avg 22 mins over his career. He came in with a bad knee. And it’s acted up over the yrs.
Still after 9yrs and 467 gms that’s (52 gms a yr). He has decent stats and is solid on D. So as a backup and still 29 yrs old. He’s a solid backup. You can do worse than Noel ….
He fits the Kings imo.
At least he better than wiseman
@shawn Kinda of a cheap shot. Noel played in college. The Sixers also sucked. So, it didn’t matter how many mistakes he made. Give Wiseman a few seasons a couple of seasons to develop, like all bigs normally get, and then evaluate him.
How do that philosophy work for Oden? A bust is a bust. Yes 3-4 years he may figure it out. But It does not mean taking Wiseman as high as hw went was not a mistake.
Oden played good. His body let him down.
Two completely different situations. Oden played a year at Ohio State. His knees were shot before he stepped foot in an NBA game. It is always crap shoot when draft players. You never know fully what you are getting. It is easy to look back and say a player was drafted to early.
I only said that cause Al talks about how the warriors are so dumb for getting rid of him like he’s the second coming of embiid. He might end up good but warriors weren’t rebuilding so we had to do something with him. IMO we tried to do right by the kid by giving him a chance to play instead of ruining his chances by keeping him on the bench.