The Kings have reached an agreement on a one-year contract with free agent sharpshooter Doug McDermott, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
While there has been no confirmation that McDermott’s contract is guaranteed, it likely won’t be the same sort of sign-and-waive Exhibit 10 agreement we’ve seen so often in recent weeks for G League purposes.
McDermott is a 10-year NBA veteran who appeared in 64 regular season games in 2023/24 and the Kings have a pair of openings on their projected 15-man regular season roster after trading Jalen McDaniels to San Antonio, so there’s a clear path for him to claim a spot on the opening night squad.
McDermott, 32, is a career 41.0% three-point shooter across 655 total contests with the Bulls, Thunder, Knicks, Mavericks, Pacers, and Spurs. He spent the first half of last season in San Antonio before being traded to Indiana in the three-team deadline deal that sent Buddy Hield to Philadelphia.
Although McDermott was part of his teams’ rotations for much of the season, he averaged just 14.1 minutes per game, his lowest mark since his rookie year in 2014/15. In his reduced role, he contributed 5.5 points per night on .433/.410/.579 shooting.
Sacramento sent out Harrison Barnes, Sasha Vezenkov, and Chris Duarte in a pair of offseason deals, so it certainly won’t hurt the team to add another reliable outside shooter at the back end of its bench.
Assuming McDermott signed for the veteran’s minimum (which is highly likely) and makes the regular season roster, he’ll count against the Kings’ cap for about $2.09MM, leaving the team’s salary roughly $3.74MM below the luxury tax line with 14 players under contract.
good end of the bench signing. Definitely can help out as a situational player
Nice pickup but they need defense more than shooting