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California Notes: Camper, Terrell, Bleijenbergh, Lakers

July 11th, 2021 at 1:44pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Kings have a workout scheduled for this Tuesday with Siena College swingman Manny Camper, writes Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee. Camper averaged 14.1 PPG and 9.7 during 2020/21, his senior season.

Anderson notes that Camper was the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Men’s Basketball Player of the Year. Camper was also a two-time All-MAAC First Team honoree during his NCAA tenure. According to Anderson, Camper has been described by coaches and staff at Siena as a “high character individual” and a “consummate selfless team leader.”

The Kings currently possess the No. 9 overall pick and the No. 39 pick in the 2021 draft. While he’s not expected to be drafted this season, Camper could make for an intriguing addition to the Kings’ Summer League roster, Anderson writes.

There’s more out of California:

  • The Kings worked out Sacramento native Christian Terrell, a Sacramento State alum who also attended Sacramento High School, per Sean Cunningham of ABC10 (KXTV) Sacramento (Twitter link). “It felt good to work out for your home team,” Terrell, a 6’5″ guard, said. “Just getting to experience what it’s like being inside Golden1 was a blessing and I am super grateful the Kings organization reached out to me and allowed me to work out.”
  • Intriguing Belgian pro Vrenz Bleijenbergh is scheduled to work out with the Kings on Monday, as Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee details. The 6’11” swingman most recently played for the Antwerp Giants, and Anderson notes that the league currently views him as a potential second-round prospect. Anderson adds that Bleijenbergh was recently honored as a Pro Basketball League Rising Star selection.
  • More recent Los Angeles championship pedigree is arriving for the Lakers. Dodgers owners Mark Walter and Todd Boehly have officially bought out minority owner Phil Anschutz‘s 27% stake in the club, per a team press release. Under the stewardship of Walter and Boehly, the Dodgers won their first title in 32 years during the 2020 MLB season.
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Kings Notes: Haliburton, Draft Workouts, Wagner

July 10th, 2021 at 5:06pm CST by Arthur Hill

Kings guard Tyrese Haliburton is enjoying his experience with the U.S. Select Team, which is giving him a chance to test his skills against some of the NBA’s best players, writes Jason Jones of The Athletic. Haliburton had previous experience in the international format as part of the USA under-19 National Team while at Iowa State.

Haliburton has fully recovered from the hyperextended left knee that brought an early end to his first NBA season. Although he played just 58 games, he was an All-Rookie First Team selection and finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting. He has been working out in Sacramento for the past month and now gets to see how his expanded game fares against elite competition.

“For me to get out and use that stuff against other guys and see it work against them in live action, it helps a lot,” Haliburton said. “And just kind of seeing what other guys are working on at the same time, how other guys are improving. Just taking bits and pieces of that, putting that into my training and things like that.”

There’s more from Sacramento:

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Draft Notes: Executive Roundup, Duarte, Monyyong, Lakers, Mini-Combine

July 10th, 2021 at 1:00pm CST by Eli Cohen

In a Draft Confidential column for The Athletic, Hall-of-Fame reporter David Aldridge interviews anonymous team executives and college coaches to get their inside scoop on the 2021 draft’s burning questions.

Some of the topics discussed: the Jalen Green versus Jalen Suggs debate, who will be the fourth guard taken after Suggs, Green, and Cade Cunningham are off the board (James Bouknight, Moses Moody, Davion Mitchell, and Keon Johnson are the top candidates), draft promises, some of the late risers (Joshua Primo, Nah’Shon Hyland, Miles McBride, and others), and a whole lot more.

We have more news from the draft:

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Kings Bringing Back California Classic Summer League For 2021

July 8th, 2021 at 12:27pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings will host the third annual California Classic Summer League at Golden 1 Center on August 3-4 this year, the team announced today in a press release. The event, which had to be canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, was launched in 2018 and was held for a second time in 2019.

The Warriors, Lakers, and Heat will join the Kings for the four-team event, according to today’s announcement. Those are the same four teams that participate in the California Classic in 2018 and 2019 as well.

Like the Utah Summer League, which will be taking place at the same time as the Kings’ event, the California Classic is something of an opening act for the Las Vegas Summer League.

The Vegas Summer League, which is scheduled for August 8-17, will feature all 30 NBA teams. The Kings, Warriors, Lakers, and Heat will take advantage of the earlier California event to take a longer look at their rookies, young players, and undrafted free agents.

A schedule for the California Classic has yet to be announced, but each of the event’s two days will feature a doubleheader, meaning each team involved in the mini-tournament will only face two of the other three participating clubs.

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Pacific Notes: Bagley, Kings, Lakers, Wiggins

July 8th, 2021 at 9:26am CST by Luke Adams

During an episode of the Halfway Decent Pod, Kings forward/center Marvin Bagley III expressed no regrets about causing a stir on Twitter by liking a tweet that read “we gotta get @MB3FIVE outta Sac” and removing mentions of the Kings from his social media profiles, writes Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.

“First of all, it’s my Twitter, bro,” Bagley said. “It’s my Twitter. It has my name on it. I can like whatever I choose and please, and whatever I feel like liking.”

According to Anderson, Bagley explained that he liked the aforementioned tweet out of frustration after watching Trae Young – who was selected three spots after Bagley in the 2018 draft – score 48 points against Milwaukee in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals.

“As a competitor, that just makes me want to get to that and I need to be there. I want to be there bad,” Bagley said. “… For me, my personal goals and where I’m trying to get to in my career, I’ve got to make it happen. I’ve got to do everything I’ve got to do to make it happen.

“I think liking that tweet, that’s where that came from and it is what it is. People (are) going to take it and run with it. It is what it is. I did it. It’s my Twitter. I can like and do whatever I want on my account. I’m not hurting nobody. I’m not harming nobody, but you already know how the fans take stuff and want to run with something.”

Bagley, who is extension-eligible this offseason, has one year left on his rookie contract with Sacramento.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

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Draft Notes: Early Entrant Decisions, Bleijenbergh, K. Johnson

July 7th, 2021 at 11:38am CST by Luke Adams

July 7 is the deadline for college early entrants who declared for the 2021 NBA draft to withdraw and maintain their NCAA eligibility. The NBA’s own withdrawal deadline for early entrants is July 19, but a college player who removes his name from the draft after today wouldn’t be able to play college ball next season.

With that in mind, we’re expecting several more updates before the end of the day on which players are going pro and which are returning to college.

Italian wing Gabriele Procida, Marquette forward Dawson Garcia, Southern Utah guard John Knight III, and Louisiana forward Dou Gueye are among the players withdrawing from the draft, according to reports from Jonathan Givony of ESPN, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, and Jeff Goodman of Stadium (all links go to Twitter). Garcia may transfer, with UNC, Arizona, and Illinois in the mix for his services, per Rothstein.

Conversely, Boston College forward Steffon Mitchell tells Rothstein (Twitter link) that he intends to remain in the draft, forgoing his final year of NCAA eligibility. Loyola Maryland forward Santi Aldama will also go pro rather than returning to college, a source tells Rothstein (Twitter link).

Here’s more on the draft:

  • Belgian wing Vrenz Bleijenbergh will keep his name in the draft, tweets Jonathan Givony of ESPN. Bleijenbergh, who will take part in the upcoming group workout in Minnesota, also has auditions lined up with the Thunder, Grizzlies, Kings, Hornets, and Mavericks, Givony reports.
  • Givony is joined by ESPN colleagues Mike Schmitz and Bobby Marks for an in-depth look at where things stand with the draft. The trio discusses how much trade action we should expect in the first round and suggests that Keon Johnson is one of the most polarizing prospects in this year’s class. Some teams have Johnson in the second tier of prospects alongside Jonathan Kuminga and Scottie Barnes, while others view him as a middle-to-late first-round flier, Givony writes.
  • Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report has shared a new version of his 2021 mock draft.
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Draft Notes: Monyyong, Hornets, Bleijenbergh, Castleton

July 4th, 2021 at 2:37pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Little Rock big man Ruot Monyyong is set to work out for the Kings on July 8, tweets Jason Jones of The Athletic. Jones adds that the 6’10” Monyyong was the 2020 Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year and was twice named to the All-Sun Belt team during his college career. Monyyong averaged 11.9 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 1.8 BPG, 1.5 APG, and 0.9 SPG across his two NCAA seasons.

There’s more on the draft:

  • The Hornets tweeted their draft prospect workouts for Saturday, July 3. The club took a look at the following players: Western Kentucky center Charles Bassey, Marquette guard D.J. Carton, Oregon guard Chris Duarte, Tennessee guard Keon Johnson, Kentucky forward Isaiah Jackson, and Alabama guard Joshua Primo. Charlotte currently possesses the No. 11 and No. 56 picks in the upcoming 2021 draft.
  • 6’10” Belgian wing Vrenz Bleijenbergh has pre-draft workouts scheduled with the Thunder, Grizzlies, Pistons and Kings, tweets Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report. Wasserman notes that the oversized small forward is thought of as a solid play-maker and shooter.
  • Florida power forward Colin Castleton plans to return to school for the 2021/22 season, and will accordingly withdraw from the 2021 NBA draft, tweets Jeff Goodman of Stadium. The 6’11” Castleton averaged 12.4 PPG, 6.4 RPG, and 1.1 APG last season.
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Hawks Notes: Young, McMillan, Reddish, Bogdanovic

July 4th, 2021 at 10:25am CST by Arthur Hill

Hawks guard Trae Young returned Saturday, but he was clearly limited by injuries that forced him to miss the previous two games, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. Young played 40 minutes, but didn’t have his usual explosiveness as he shot 4 of 17 from the field and scored 14 points.

He was still feeling the effects of a bone bruise in his right foot and a sprained right ankle that happened during Game 3. Saturday marked the first time he had stepped onto a court since the injury, other than testing it before Games 4 and 5. Young told reporters the bruise was in his heel and it affected him when he tried to get to the rim for a floater or a layup.

“Not being able to be out there for my team for two games, and then tonight just wanting to battle and try to fight through it as much as I could and try to be out there for my team, it’s definitely frustrating not being healthy and not being able to give my full 100 percent,” Young said.

There’s more from Atlanta:

  • One of the first orders of business for the offseason will be to negotiate a long-term deal with coach Nate McMillan, Bontemps adds. McMillan took over the Hawks in March when they were stuck in 11th place in the East and led them to the brink of the NBA Finals. “I don’t see interim on his label here soon,” Young said. “In my mind, I don’t think that will be a case that much longer.” 
  • Cam Reddish had a star-making performance in Saturday’s loss, observes Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. Playing in just his third game since returning from Achilles soreness that had sidelined him since February, Reddish scored 21 points and hit six of his seven three-point attempts. Kirschner notes that Reddish didn’t have a good relationship with former coach Lloyd Pierce, and many in the organization think he has the potential to be the team’s best player. “I really took to Cam when I first got here,” McMillan said. “He was a kid that I talked to early and was really wanting to coach him. I see a lot of Paul George in Cam — his length, his ability to defend.”
  • Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was a restricted free agent last offseason, said the Kings told him they would match any offer and they saw his value as $15MM to $17MM a year, according to Kirschner. He wound up getting $18MM from Atlanta and said he had no desire to return to Sacramento, calling it disrespectful that the Kings worked out a sign-and-trade with the Bucks without telling him. “I remember talking with (coach) Luke (Walton) and (general manager) Monte (McNair), and they both told me how they wanted me,” Bogdanovic said. “I said, ‘OK, fine.’ They said they were going to wait for my offer because they couldn’t make a deal before going to the market. I’m talking with my guys from (Sacramento) and I wasn’t even looking at free agency. … I was in Serbia and no one reached out to me. No one talked with me. No one asked me anything. I woke up, I saw it and then I didn’t know what to do. I called my agent and he told me to calm down because there was nothing they could do because I was a restricted free agent and they couldn’t do anything like that.”
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Could They Come Up With Package For Simmons?

July 2nd, 2021 at 6:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

It’s unlikely the Kings could put together a trade package that would allow them to acquire Ben Simmons from the Sixers, according to James Ham of NBC Sports Bay Area. Philadelphia is seeking an All-Star caliber player for Simmons and Sacramento is unlikely to make Tyrese Haliburton or De’Aaron Fox available.

Ham speculates the Kings could try to package Buddy Hield, Marvin Bagley and the No. 9 overall pick or Harrison Barnes, Bagley and the same pick and see if Philadelphia would be interested.

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Roster Announced For U.S. Select Team

July 1st, 2021 at 12:26pm CST by Arthur Hill

The roster has been released for the U.S. Select Team, which will help Team USA prepare for the Olympics, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.

The Select Team, which will practice with and scrimmage against the national team during the upcoming training camp in Las Vegas, is made up mostly of first- and second-year NBA players. It will be coached by Erik Spoelstra of the Heat.

Making up the roster are:

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