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JaVale McGee Signs With Kings

September 2nd, 2023 at 9:09pm CST by Tristan Tucker

SEPTEMBER 2: The signing is official, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee.

SEPTEMBER 1: McGee is signing a guaranteed minimum-salary contract, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

AUGUST 31: Free agent center JaVale McGee is signing with the Kings, according to Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report (Twitter link). The Mavericks officially waived McGee on Tuesday and now he’s set to join another Western Conference contender.

McGee, 35, signed with Dallas last year on a three-year, $17MM deal and opened the year as a starter, but quickly fell out of the rotation altogether. In all, McGee averaged 4.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in 42 games (career-low 8.5 minutes) with the Mavericks. Once it was clear McGee was no longer in the team’s future plans, Dallas cut him loose this offseason and is stretching his remaining salary over the next five years for roughly $2.35MM through 2027/28.

The Kings will hope McGee, a three-time champion, has enough left in the tank to help contribute to a team that ended a 16-season playoff drought last year. McGee is just one season removed from averaging 9.2 points and 6.7 rebounds in Phoenix, where he played in 74 games and made 17 starts.

Sacramento’s interest in McGee was reported shortly after he was waived by Dallas. It’s unclear what kind of deal he’s signing, but it likely isn’t for more than the veteran’s minimum and may not be fully guaranteed.

Sacramento’s roster is stacked with backup centers. Nerlens Noel, Neemias Queta, Alex Len and Skal Labissiere (reported) are likely to compete with McGee for minutes and/or a roster spot. Queta and Noel are in more direct competition with McGee for a roster spot. Len’s roster spot appears safe and Labissiere is joining on a training camp deal with the goal of him playing for the Stockton Kings next year. Meanwhile, Noel has a $300K partial guarantee and Queta has a $250K partial guarantee.

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Kings Notes: Vezenkov, Monk, McGee

September 1st, 2023 at 5:51pm CST by Rory Maher

Former Olympiacos star Sasha Vezenkov decided to come stateside for the 2023/24 season, signing a three-year, $20MM contract with the Kings, who held his draft rights. At his introductory press conference on Thursday, Vezenkov said the team’s months-long pursuit to sign him played a factor in his decision, as Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee relays.

“I’m really happy, really excited,” Vezenkov said. “It was a big decision for my career and I’m really happy to do it for Sacramento. I’m really thankful to the organization because throughout the last year, they came overseas. They show me their commitment. They show me how much they want me to be here and I’m really happy.”

The reigning EuroLeague MVP had a lot of success playing with Olympiacos, winning back-to-back domestic titles the past two seasons and losing the EuroLeague final to Real Madrid by one point in 2022/23. The Kings’ success last season — winning 48 games and breaking their 16-year playoff drought — was another reason the Bulgarian forward wanted to join the team, according to James Ham of TheKingsBeat.com.

“I like to win,” Vezenkov said. “That’s why we play basketball — to enjoy, to win games. This helped in my decision. As we saw last year, the Kings were a fantastic team, playing beautiful basketball, but most importantly, winning.”

Here’s more on the Kings:

  • Adjusting to the pace, space, and athleticism of the NBA can sometimes be a challenge for European players, especially right away. But Vezenkov is confident he’ll make an impact with Sacramento and believes it will be a good fit, per Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net. The 28-year-old sharpshooter said it was a “dream” to play in the league. “The NBA was like a goal, a dream for me,” Vezenkov said. “Every kid who plays in Europe wants to come to the NBA. … I am here to help with my experience, with whatever coach needs from me for this team to continue to win games and perform better and better.”
  • Ham of TheKingsBeat recently touched on Malik Monk‘s contract situation in an appearance on ESPN 1320’s D-Lo & KC show (Twitter video link). Monk, who is entering the final year of his deal, will only have Early Bird rights in 2024 after signing a two-year contract with the Kings, and he is not extension-eligible. That means Sacramento will be somewhat limited in what it can offer him in free agency next summer, Ham notes. After a solid regular season as the team’s sixth man, Monk had a breakout performance in Sacramento’s first-round playoff loss to Golden State, averaging 19.0 PPG, 5.4 RPG and 3.6 APG in seven games (29.3 MPG).
  • Veteran center JaVale McGee is reportedly signing a one-year, fully guaranteed minimum-salary contract to join the Kings after being waived by Dallas. He’s expected to compete for minutes behind Domantas Sabonis, according to Sam Amick of The Athletic, who writes that McGee has the trust of head coach Mike Brown, as they won a pair of championships together with Golden State. McGee’s mother also played for Sacramento’s WNBA team, the Monarchs, Amick adds.
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Jordi Fernandez Further Bolstering Résumé With World Cup Performance

August 30th, 2023 at 7:48am CST by Luke Adams
  • No World Cup team has registered a better point differential through three games than Canada (+111). The work Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez is doing with the Canadian national team is further strengthening his case to become an NBA head coach, which is expected to happen sooner or later, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
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Kings Interested In JaVale McGee

August 29th, 2023 at 5:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings are interested in signing veteran center JaVale McGee once he clears waivers, Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report and NBA on TNT tweets.

The Mavericks officially waived McGee on Monday and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent on Thursday.

Sacramento has 13 players on guaranteed contracts and two more frontcourt players —  Neemias Queta and Nerlens Noel — on partially guaranteed deals. The Kings also have Alex Len behind Domantas Sabonis in the center spot with Trey Lyles another possibility in small-ball lineups.

McGee could join the battle for backup minutes behind Sabonis. He’d be on his ninth NBA team since entering the league in 2008.

McGee signed a three-year, $17MM+ contract with Dallas last offseason, but only spent seven games in the starting lineup and subsequently fell out of the rotation altogether. The 35-year-old averaged 4.4 points and 2.5 rebounds in a career-low 8.5 minutes per game across 42 appearances during his second stint as a Maverick.

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Brown Eager To See How Team Responds To Pressure

August 28th, 2023 at 5:32pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings decided to tweak the roster rather than make major changes this offseason after finally reaching the postseason in the spring. They acquired Chris Duarte in a trade and re-signed Harrison Barnes and Trey Lyles. They also signed EuroLeague star Sasha Vezenkov.

Kings coach Mike Brown is excited to have his core group back and is eager to see how they respond to the newfound respect they’ve gained after snapping the franchise’s long playoff drought.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how we can handle the pressure,” the Kings coach said. “It’s flipped now. We’re no longer hunting people; people are hunting us. And there are expectations, so how do we handle that? I believe our guys are ready for it, and with the fans that we have here and the juice they brought last year – let’s go. Let’s get it. I’m excited for Sasha, I’m excited for Chris Duarte, I’m excited about our young guys. It’s good to have the new guys, but I’m more excited about having our guys to be able to run it back and give them the opportunity to grow as a nucleus than anything else.”

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California Notes: CP3, Curry, Kings, Sabonis

August 20th, 2023 at 2:16pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Longtime rival point guards Stephen Curry and Chris Paul are looking forward to their new status as teammates on a contending Warriors team this year, writes Jonathan Givony of ESPN.

“It’s a beautiful thing about basketball, you can’t write these narratives,” Curry said. “To go full circle, we’ve had a lot of battles over the years. He’s in Year 18, I’m going into Year 15, it’s amazing we have an opportunity to play together, and hopefully win at the highest level. He’s super competitive, and so am I.”

“I’m excited about Steph, Draymond [Green], Klay [Thompson], all the different guys, Wigs [Andrew Wiggins],” Paul said. “I’m excited for us to get together and see what it looks like. It’s just crazy how life works. But when it comes to basketball, I’m probably closest to my happiest. I’m obviously happiest when I’m with my family, but basketball is my safe haven; it’s been that way for a long time.”

Paul, a 12-time All-Star, was sent from the Suns to the Wizards as part of the Bradley Beal trade earlier this summer. The Warriors then traded for the 38-year-old as the centerpiece of its deal to offload Jordan Poole and some other young players.

There’s more out of California:

  • The new-look Warriors will have to fight to stand out in a crowded Western Conference as they pursue another ring. Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area unpacks 10 key regular season bouts that he believes will serve as a critical proving ground for Golden State.
  • After finishing with the West’s third seed while returning to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years, the revitalized Kings be featured prominently on national TV this season. According to James Ham of ESPN 1320 (Twitter link), the club will play six regular season contests on TNT, five on ESPN and 11 on NBA TV. Ham adds (via Twitter) that 16 of those 22 national bouts will be played in Sacramento.
  • Kings All-Star big man Domantas Sabonis is looking forward to the NBA’s inaugural in-season tournament, as he told Kyle Irving of The Sporting News. “It’s another chance to win something,” Sabonis said. “In international basketball, these cups in the middle of the season are big. They mean something. And then history happens and it’s important. “I feel like this year, if people aren’t on board at the moment, once that first champion wins, everyone is going to be like, ‘Oh, I want that next year.’ It’s only going to get better and better.”
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Only Two NBA Teams Control Their Own 2024 Second-Round Picks

August 20th, 2023 at 11:43am CST by Luke Adams

As we noted earlier this week when we took a closer look at the 30 trades that have been completed so far during the NBA offseason, second-round picks have become a more popular form of currency than ever, with 54 second-rounders (50 unprotected) included in summer deals.

It’s perhaps no surprise then that nearly every NBA team has either traded away its 2024 second-round pick or could lose it or swap it if certain conditions are met.

The Magic and Kings are currently the only two NBA teams that fully control their own second-round picks in 2024.

The Sixers also haven’t traded away their own ’24 second-rounder, but will have to forfeit it as a result of an NBA investigation into free agency gun-jumping last year.

Of those two clubs that have unconditional control of their second-round picks in next year’s draft, Orlando is the only one that has never traded that 2024 second-rounder at any time. Sacramento sent its ’24 second-round selection to Detroit in a 2021 deal for Delon Wright, then reacquired it a year later in the trade that sent Marvin Bagley III to the Pistons.

Of the NBA’s 27 other teams outside of Detroit, Sacramento, and Philadelphia, a total of 22 will definitely send their second-round picks to another team next June, having traded them without protections or swap rights.

The Nets will, in all likelihood, join that group. They’d keep their own second-round pick if it ends up between Nos. 56 and 59, but if it’s in the top 55, it will be sent to Houston.

The Heat and Spurs, meanwhile, have traded away their 2024 second-round picks with protection. Miami will keep its second-rounder if it’s in the top 50, but would otherwise have to send it to Atlanta or New York. San Antonio will hang onto its ’24 second-rounder if it’s in the top 49, but would otherwise have to send it to Phoenix or Boston.

Given the expectations for those two teams in 2023/24, the Spurs appear far more likely than the Heat to hang onto their own pick.

Finally, the Pelicans and Pacers have given up swap rights to their second-round picks, but will still control a second-rounder, even if it’s not their own. New Orleans will receive the least favorable of its own ’24 second-rounder and Chicago’s pick. Indiana will end up with the least favorable of its own selection, Cleveland’s second-rounder, Utah’s second-rounder.

We’ll publish a full post this afternoon breaking down all the details on 2024’s traded second-round picks.

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And-Ones: T. Davis, Player Tiers, 2025 FAs, R. Thompson

August 16th, 2023 at 7:19pm CST by Rory Maher

According to Arale Weisberg of Israeli outlet Walla Sport (Twitter link), Spanish powerhouse FC Barcelona is keeping tabs on free agent wing Terence Davis, who spent the past two-and-a-half seasons with the Kings (hat tip to Dario Skerletic of Sportando).

In 64 regular season games (13.1 MPG) with Sacramento in 2022/23, Davis averaged 6.7 PPG and 2.2 RPG on .423/.366/.791 shooting. In total, the 26-year-old has appeared in 227 games over four seasons with the Raptors and Kings.

A handful of NBA teams were rumored to be interested in Davis once free agency got underway on June 30, but he has yet to find another club. The Kings renounced his rights in order to maximize their cap space this summer.

As Skerletic notes, Barcelona — which recently signed Jabari Parker — would likely have to give Davis a contract in the range of Parker’s deal to entice him to come to Europe. Parker will reportedly receive a one-year, $2MM contract that includes an NBA opt-out clause.

Here’s more from around the basketball world:

  • Earlier this week, Seth Partnow of The Athletic released his first two player tier rankings ahead of the 2023/24 season. Roughly ranking the top-125 players in the league, tier five consisted of 45 players, while tier four contained 41. His latest installment — tier three — includes 21 players, such as Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton, Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen, and Kings guard De’Aaron Fox. Partnow’s top two tiers will feature 18 total players.
  • Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype takes an early look at the potential 2025 free agent class, with Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo ranked No. 1 overall. Wizards guard Landry Shamet rounds out Gozlan’s top-65 list.
  • Former Indiana forward Race Thompson, who went undrafted earlier this summer, recently revealed that he sustained a right tibia plateau fracture a couple months ago, as Kyler Staley of Hoosier Illustrated relays. Thompson had reached an agreement to play for the Knicks in Summer League action, but obviously the injury prevented that from happening.
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And-Ones: Washington, Available FAs, Player Tiers, CBA

August 15th, 2023 at 10:38am CST by Luke Adams

Exploring possible destinations for some of the top remaining free agents, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report suggests that many people around the league think that P.J. Washington – the only standard restricted free agent still on the board – will eventually accept his qualifying offer from the Hornets. Pincus also confirms that the Lakers have conveyed interest in big man Christian Wood.

In considering a potential landing spot for Kelly Oubre, who averaged more than 20 points per game last season, Pincus notes that Memphis makes some sense. While it’s not clear if the Grizzlies have actually expressed interest in Oubre, Pincus points out that they haven’t really replaced Dillon Brooks at forward and have some young players – such as Ziaire Williams or Josh Christopher – who might appeal to the Hornets in a sign-and-trade scenario.

Here are a few more odds and ends from the league:

  • Seth Partnow of The Athletic has published the first two installments of his player tier rankings for the 2023/24 season. Breaking down the top 125 players of the league into five tiers, Partnow lists 45 players in tier five – including Warriors sharpshooter Klay Thompson and Raptors forward Scottie Barnes – and 41 more in tier four, such as Kings center Domantas Sabonis, Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, and Timberwolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns. Partnow’s top three tiers will consist of 39 players and will presumably be posted later this week.
  • Now that hoarding cap room into the regular season is no longer a viable strategy, Rob Mahoney of The Ringer wonders how the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will change the way that rebuilding teams approach future offseasons.
  • With no sign that the Damian Lillard or James Harden situations will be resolved anytime soon, John Hollinger of The Athletic questions whether the NBA’s player empowerment era has reached its ceiling. During the last several years, stars who ask for trades have sought increasingly specific destinations despite having less and less leverage, Hollinger observes, adding that the outcomes for Lillard and Harden could create new benchmarks for future star trade requests.
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