- Until rookie Tyrese Haliburton suffered a wrist injury, the Kings had seemingly settled on a closing group of De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, Haliburton, Harrison Barnes and Richaun Holmes, according to Jason Jones of The Athletic. “With that group, you know the shot can come from anywhere,” Fox said. “You have multiple guys on the court who can make shots, get in the paint, get to the free throw line and things like that.”
Tyrese Haliburton has been one of the league’s top rookies during the first two weeks of play but he’ll be out for at least a week, according to a team press release.
The Kings guard underwent an MRI in Houston on Friday which confirmed a left wrist bone bruise. He suffered the injury during Thursday’s game against the Rockets.
His condition will be updated when the team returns to Sacramento next week. The Kings play at Houston on Saturday and Golden State on Monday before returning home.
The 12th overall pick in the draft out of Iowa State, Haliburton has scored 10.6 PPG while shooting 50% from the field. He’s also averaging 4.4 APG while playing 26.8 MPG off the bench.
“He plays beyond his years and we all have the utmost confidence in him with the ball,” starting point guard De’Aaron Fox told Shaun Powell of NBA.com. “He steps up to the occasion. He understands the game so well … you would have thought he’s played a few years already.”
6:15pm: Today’s MRI confirmed that the injury is a Grade 3 sprain and Jeffries’ status will be updated in six weeks, the Kings announced in a press release.
3:40pm: Kings wing DaQuan Jeffries suffered a setback during the process of rehabbing a back injury, and has sustained a Grade 3 left ankle sprain, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who tweets that Jeffries will miss an “extended period” of time.
Jeffries, who has been sidelined since the preseason due to back soreness, suffered the injury during a scrimmage when he came down on someone’s foot, per James Ham of NBC Sports California (Twitter links). He underwent an MRI today, and while the Kings have yet to issue a formal update, Charania’s report suggests that MRI showed the Grade 3 sprain.
Jeffries, 23, spent his rookie season in 2019/20 on a two-way contract with the Kings. He saw limited action, averaging 3.8 PPG and 1.4 RPG in 13 games (10.8 MPG), but impressed the team enough to earn a promotion to the 15-man roster and a fully guaranteed salary for 2020/21. He had been slated to have a “key rotation role” this season, says Charania.
No timeline has been set for Jeffries’ return so far, but as Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee writes, a Grade 3 ankle sprain typically requires about four to six weeks to heal. Kings guard De’Aaron Fox suffered the injury last season and missed 17 games. If Jeffries faces a similar recovery timeline, he likely won’t make his season debut until February.
- New Suns center Frank Kaminsky was excited to play well against the Kings, the team that had just cut him, Suns writer Gina Mizell tweets. “I gotta be honest, that felt good,” Kaminsky said. He scored 11 points in 19 minutes off the bench for Phoenix on Sunday.
- The Kings have recorded two straight wins, the franchise’s best start to a season in 17 years, Jason Jones of The Athletic writes. As Jones notes, players on Sacramento fully expected this to happen, taking a 124-122 win over Denver on Wednesday and 106-103 win over Phoenix on Saturday. “Why not?” Marvin Bagley III asked. “They tie their shoes the same way we tie ours. They practice the same way we practice. Why not? We have a good team, a great team. I know for myself, I’m not satisfied. I want to keep continuing to push, keep continuing to get better, continue to keep winning. Nobody’s surprised over here.”
Ahead of the 2020/21 season, John Hollinger of the Athletic wondered if the Kings will be able to move the contracts of shooting guard Buddy Hield and forward Harrison Barnes, and whether or not Sacramento would be able to surround newly-extended point guard De’Aaron Fox with enough help to reach the playoffs.
New Kings GM Monte McNair has expressed a desire to give Fox similarly-aged teammates. Hield is currently in the first season of his four-year, $94MM extension, which declines over each year, while Barnes has three years and $61MM left on his deal. Moving at least one of those players for assets could help in McNair’s quest to find players who align with Fox’s timeline.
DECEMBER 24: Metu’s two-way contract is now official, according to a press release issued by the Kings.
DECEMBER 23: The Kings are filling their open two-way slot by re-signing forward/center Chimezie Metu, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Metu cleared waivers today after being cut from Sacramento’s standard roster on Monday.
Selected 49th overall in the 2018 draft by the Spurs, Metu was never able to establish consistent playing time in San Antonio during his two years with the team. He appeared in 47 games over the last two seasons, averaging 2.3 PPG and 1.5 RPG in 5.3 minutes per contest before being waived by the Spurs last month.
Metu subsequently caught on with the Kings on a three-year contract with a $50K partial guarantee in year one and played well in the preseason, with 24 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks in 29 total minutes. However, since Sacramento was carrying 14 players on guaranteed contracts and Glenn Robinson III earned the 15th spot, there was no room for Metu.
Because he has just two years of NBA service under his belt and his guarantee didn’t exceed $50K, Metu remained eligible to sign a two-way contract with Sacramento after clearing waivers. He’ll occupy one of the Kings’ two-way slots while Kyle Guy has the other.
As our two-way tracker shows, only the Pistons, Suns, and Trail Blazers will still have open two-way spots once Metu’s deal with Sacramento is official.
The Kings have set their roster for the start of the regular season by waiving power forward Chimezie Metu, league sources tell Jason Jones of The Athletic (Twitter link).
Metu, a 2018 second-round pick, was never able to establish consistent playing time in San Antonio during his two years with the team. He appeared in 47 games over the last two seasons, averaging 2.3 PPG and 1.5 RPG in 5.3 minutes per contest before being waived by the Spurs this offseason.
Metu subsequently caught on with the Kings on a three-year contract with a $50K partial guarantee in year one. The multiyear nature of his deal with Sacramento and his strong play in the postseason (24 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks in 29 total minutes) suggested he may be in the team’s plans, but he’ll be the odd man out in advance of tonight’s roster deadline.
The Kings now have 14 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus Glenn Robinson III on a non-guaranteed deal and Kyle Guy on a two-way pact. Metu could fill the Kings’ other two-way slot if he clears waivers and there’s mutual interest in a new deal.
Former William & Mary guard Daniel Dixon has retired from professional basketball and will join the Hornets as a video coordinator and basketball operations assistant this season, he told Hoops Rumors.
Dixon holds NBA G League experience with Maine (Celtics), Northern Arizona (Suns) and Windy City (Bulls), spending four years in college before going undrafted in 2017. He also signed a contract in France during the summer of 2018.
At just 26 years old, Dixon joins a revamped Hornets franchise for the 2020/21 season. Charlotte drafted LaMelo Ball at No. 3 overall and signed Gordon Hayward to a four-year, $120MM deal this offseason, working to become competitive in the Eastern Conference. The team last made the postseason in 2016.
Here are some other odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz obtained footage of both G League Ignite scrimmages from last week, dissecting how each player performed against the veterans and what’s ahead for the team. The decision-makers within the G League curiously opted not to publicly live-stream the games or release any footage, though the pair of ESPN scribes managed to examine the pros and cons for top 2021 prospects such as Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga and Isaiah Todd.
- Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic explores which team owners are the NBA’s best and worst, tallying opinions from various league insiders. Steve Ballmer (Clippers), Micky Arison (Heat) and Mark Cuban (Mavericks) ranked in the top three, while Vivek Ranadive (Kings), Robert Sarver (Suns) and James Dolan (Knicks) finished in the bottom three. Among the league insiders polled were front office members and agents from around the league.
- Ben Pickman of Sports Illustrated takes a deep dive into the NBA’s rookie transition program, which, like many other things, has been complicated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “Things are all moving parts right now, but you just gotta kinda go on the fly and that’s all us rookies have been used to the whole time,” Kings rookie Tyrese Haliburton explained. “We’ve been going on the fly since March. It’s just kinda a part of it.”
Nearly every NBA team currently has a roster in compliance with regular season limits — no more than 15 players on standard contracts and two on two-way deals.
However, there are still a couple teams that will need to make at least one cut before Monday’s regular season roster deadline: Oklahoma City and Sacramento.
The Thunder are currently carrying 15 players on fully guaranteed contracts and one – Frank Jackson – on a partially guaranteed deal. Jackson appears likely to make the team, which means one of those players with a guaranteed salary will presumably be the final victim of the roster crunch.
While we don’t know for sure which player will be the odd man out, Kenrich Williams and Darius Miller appear to have the most tenuous holds on their roster spots. They came over from New Orleans in the Steven Adams deal and looked more like salary-matching pieces than players the Thunder were specifically targeting.
As for the Kings, they have 14 players on guaranteed contracts, one (Chimezie Metu) on a partially guaranteed contract, and one (Glenn Robinson III) on a non-guaranteed deal. Reporting on Saturday indicated that Robinson is expected to make the 15-man roster — that would make Metu the most obvious odd man out, though Sacramento may decide to cut Justin James or another player with a guaranteed salary.
If they do waive Metu, the Kings could theoretically bring him back on a two-way deal, since his partial guarantee doesn’t exceed $50K. He’d have to clear waivers first though.
As we explained on Saturday, while most teams completed their roster moves early, the Thunder and Kings can afford to take an extra day or two to consider their options without any financial ramifications, since they won’t be cutting a player who has a fully non-guaranteed contract.
While Oklahoma City and Sacramento are the only teams that still have to make moves today or tomorrow, we’ll likely see a little more roster shuffling before Monday’s deadline. Players who have been cut by one team might appeal to another club that has an open roster spot or an expendable 15th man.
Additionally, five teams still have one open two-way contract slot and may look to fill those openings before the season begins. Those clubs are the Pistons, Warriors, Suns, Trail Blazers, and Kings, as our tracker shows.