- Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee examines what the Kings‘ depth chart might look like in 2023/24, observing that the team’s starting lineup will probably remain unchanged from last season. Anderson also considers candidates for Sacramento’s final two-way slot, suggesting that Summer League standout Jordan Ford is one option if big man Neemias Queta doesn’t return on a two-way deal.
Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren of the Thunder and Jalen Green of the Rockets are among the young players joining the USA Select Team ahead of the upcoming FIBA World Cup, league sources tell Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
Those three players will be eligible to travel with Team USA to the Philippines and could potentially be added to the 12-man national team roster in the event of an injury, per The Athletic.
Williams, Holmgren and Green will be joined by Pistons guard Cade Cunningham and Kings forward Keegan Murray for Team USA’s training camp in a couple of weeks, where they will practice and scrimmage against the main roster, according to Charania and Vardon. As many as 12 players could end up being named to the Select Team.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported (via Twitter) that Cunningham would attend the training camp. The 2021 No. 1 overall pick was actually offered a spot on the senior team’s roster, according to Wojnarowski, but decided to forgo the opportunity in order to focus on the 2023/24 season. Cunningham was limited to 12 games last season due to a shin injury which required surgery.
Williams, the runner-up for the ’22/23 Rookie of the Year award, is coming off a stellar first season with OKC, averaging 14.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.3 APG and 1.4 SPG on .521/.356/.812 shooting in 75 games (30.3 MPG). Holmgren, the No. 2 overall pick last year, missed the entire season due to foot surgery, but he’s healthy again and recently played during Las Vegas Summer League.
Green, the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, averaged 22.1 PPG, 3.7 RPG and 3.7 APG on .416/.338/.786 shooting in 76 games (34.2 MPG) for Houston last season. Murray was the fourth pick of last year’s draft. The former Iowa product averaged 12.2 PPG and 4.6 RPG while shooting 41.1% from three-point range during his All-Rookie First Team campaign.
The Americans will start training camp for the World Cup on August 3 in Las Vegas, with their first game scheduled later that month in the Philippines.
While many around the league suspected the Kings were gearing up for a major free agency acquisition entering July, Sacramento ended up largely using its cap space to retain its core. On the night of the 2023 NBA draft, the Kings traded Richaun Holmes and the No. 24 overall pick to the Mavericks to create cap space, which they used to re-sign Harrison Barnes to a three-year, $54MM contract and then later renegotiate and extend Domantas Sabonis on a five-year, $217MM deal.
Sacramento general manager Monte McNair sat down with The Athletic’s Anthony Slater and Sam Amick to discuss the Kings’ decision to retain their core and why he’s higher on their offseason moves than outsiders might be.
“(I’m) not saying that we won’t look at upgrades (or that) we didn’t,” McNair said. “Because we certainly explored all those options. But knowing that one of our options was going to be to bring the bulk of our team back (was appealing).”
After making the decision to trade Tyrese Haliburton to the Pacers for Sabonis at the 2022 trade deadline, the Kings spent the subsequent summer trying to build a playoff contender that would end the club’s then-16-year playoff drought. Sacramento drafted Keegan Murray, a 22-year-old rookie who stepped into the rotation right away, and acquired Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter to surround De’Aaron Fox and Sabonis.
What followed was a 48-win season that resulted in the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, ending the Kings’ playoff drought. This summer was quieter for McNair — the Kings drafted Colby Jones and Jalen Slawson, signed Sasha Vezenkov and Nerlens Noel, and traded for Chris Duarte.
Although Sacramento didn’t make a major splash, McNair believes the addition of Vezenkov is a significant one. The Kings acquired the 2023 EuroLeague MVP along with cash from Cleveland last summer for the No. 49 overall pick in the 2022 draft. While Sacramento wasn’t sure at the time if Vezenkov would ever end up in the NBA, McNair believes the team’s stellar play helped convince him to come stateside. Vezenkov signed a three-year, $20MM deal this offseason.
McNair said that he understands the muted reaction from outsiders, but that the Kings were extremely high on Vezenkov for a while and that he’s going to turn some heads.
“A lot of people hear ‘international’ and they don’t know them, and then they come over and all of a sudden it’s (Nikola) Mirotic or it’s the Bogdanovics (Bogdan and Bojan) or (Nemanja) Bjelica,” McNair said. “Or you can obviously go back to the Pejas and Turkoglus (former Kings Peja Stojakovic and Hedo Turkoglu). And once they’re over here, then people get excited about them. But I think people will be surprised, just because they don’t know him very well and what he can do.”
The Kings aren’t just banking on Vezenkov, Duarte, and the other additions to help the team improve, according to McNair. Sacramento is extraordinarily high on Murray, who showed promising upside in his first season after averaging 12.2 points in 80 games last season along with starting in all seven of the club’s playoff games. Murray also set the record for threes made by a rookie with 206.
Murray played in the California Classic this summer and turned heads rather quickly with a 41-point outing in a game against the Heat. McNair believes Murray’s ongoing development is a key to unlocking another level for the Kings.
“We know we need Keegan to take another step,” McNair said. “And one of the ways he can do that is to be more of a second or third option as opposed to a fourth or fifth option. And it’s hard to do that when you have two all-NBA guys, right? Then you have Kevin Huerter and Harrison Barnes. So you know, it may take some time for him to do that within the natural flow.”
While the Kings’ offseason moves signal a desire to remain in the upper echelon of Western Conference teams, McNair explained that these transactions were as much about preserving future flexibility as they were about staying competitive in the short term. The Holmes trade didn’t just allow for the Kings to bring back Barnes and extend Sabonis — it also freed up $12.8MM in 2024. Every major piece of Sacramento’s rotation is under team control beyond next season except for Monk and Alex Len. That extra $12.8MM of breathing room could put the team in position to bring those pieces back or replace them.
Additionally, the Kings only owe one first-round pick, a lottery protected 2024 first-rounder to Atlanta. Outside of that, the club has a full treasure chest of draft assets and tradable contracts to help facilitate a future move, according to McNair.
McNair understands that the Kings had extraordinary luck with health last season and that other Western teams improved this offseason, but he’s sold on what his team can achieve moving forward.
“One mistake you can make in this league is thinking your path will be linear,” McNair said. “We know it’s not going to be a straight line where we just continue to take one step at a time. Hopefully we’re taking major steps forward. But if there’s other road blocks or adversity in the way, you have to have the ability to pivot off of that, whether it’s a better fit or talent. So for us, we feel not just set up this year, but we have plenty of room to the tax line for trades (if needed).”
Slater and Amick touch base on more topics with McNair, so I recommend checking out the article in full if you’re an Athletic subscriber.
The action on the NBA’s free agent market has slowed since the start of July, but there are still many FAs seeking new deals, including a notable group of under-the-radar players whose situations will need to be resolved in the coming days, weeks, and months.
A total of 12 two-way restricted free agents are still available, as our up-to-date list shows. Those players are as follows:
- Trent Forrest (Hawks)
- Theo Maledon (Hornets)
- Terry Taylor (Bulls)
- Lester Quinones (Warriors)
- Kendall Brown (Pacers)
- Jamal Cain (Heat)
- Matt Ryan (Timberwolves)
- Trevor Keels (Knicks)
- Duane Washington (Knicks)
- Dominick Barlow (Spurs)
- Jeff Dowtin (Raptors)
- Ron Harper Jr. (Raptors)
That group doesn’t include a 13th player, Neemias Queta, who is also a restricted free agent after finishing last season on a two-way deal. Although he remains eligible to sign another two-way contract, Queta was ineligible for a two-way qualifying offer after having played on a two-way with the Kings for consecutive seasons — his QO is a one-year, minimum-salary contract with a small ($75K) partial guarantee.
For the rest of these players, their qualifying offer is simply another one-year, two-way deal, which limits their leverage to negotiate a more lucrative standard contract.
Some two-way RFAs have managed to earn standard deals this offseason. A.J. Green of the Bucks was one. Julian Champagnie of the Spurs was another. Ty Jerome (Warriors) and Jack White (Nuggets) received standard contract offers from the Cavaliers and Thunder, respectively, that their former teams were unwilling to match, so Golden State and Denver simply withdrew their respective qualifying offers, making Jerome and White unrestricted free agents.
Offer sheets for two-way restricted free agents essentially never happen though. And in general, unless a team has earmarked a 15-man roster spot for a two-way free agent, it’s an uphill battle for these players to earn offseason promotions.
As a result, the majority of the dozen restricted free agents listed above will likely end up accepting their qualifying offers and hoping that their play in 2023/24 forces their clubs to find 15-man roster spots for them later in the season.
Still, it’s worth keeping an eye on this group to see if any of them can do better than another two-way — and to see how long some of them might be willing to wait in the hope of earning that opportunity.
Dante Exum‘s new deal with the Mavericks was initially reported to be a one-year, minimum-salary agreement, but the terms were adjusted between July 1 – when the two sides struck a deal – and today, when it was made official.
According to Tim MacMahon of ESPN (Twitter link), Exum ended up signing a two-year, $6.15MM contract that is non-guaranteed for the second season. It will be worth $3MM in 2023/24 and $3.15MM in ’24/25, with this year’s salary coming out of the Mavericks’ mid-level exception.
Giving Exum a portion of the MLE wouldn’t have been possible if the Mavericks’ offer sheet for Matisse Thybulle had been successful, since Thybulle would have received $10.5MM of the $12.4MM mid-level. Once Portland matched Dallas’ offer for Thybulle, the Mavs’ MLE fully freed up, allowing the team to renegotiate its deal with Exum.
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Mavs also use a chunk of the mid-level to complete their reported agreement with Seth Curry, who was initially expected to be signed using the bi-annual exception. Signing Curry with the MLE would preserve the BAE for 2024/25.
Here are a couple more contract-related notes from around the NBA:
- Sasha Vezenkov‘s three-year contract with the Kings comes in just below $20MM, Hoops Rumors has learned — its exact value is $19,975,609, including a $6,341,464 starting salary in 2023/24. As Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets, the first two years of Vezenkov’s deal are guaranteed, while the third is a team option (worth $6,975,609).
- As part of the trade that sent him from Cleveland to the Spurs, Lamar Stevens had his minimum salary partially guaranteed for $400K, tweets Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. Stevens also had his salary guarantee deadline moved up from January 7 to July 17, so San Antonio will have to decide in the coming days whether or not to fully guarantee the forward’s 2023/24 cap hit.
- In case you missed it, we passed along contract details on a few other recently reported deals on Thursday.
Discussing his move from Miami to Los Angeles, Gabe Vincent said that he was “honored (the Lakers) reached out to me” when he became a free agent, as Khobi Price of The Southern California News Group (subscription required) writes.
After earning the minimum salary during his first four seasons in the NBA, Vincent received a considerable raise as a free agent this summer and will make $11MM annually on his new three-year deal with the Lakers. Despite the substantial pay bump, the 27-year-old is ready to accept whatever role the team he wants him to play, big or small.
“I’m just here to add on,” Vincent said. “They have a great core, a great situation, and hopefully I can just add to it and help us bring home a championship.”
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
- After falling short of an NBA title during his time in Houston, Suns guard Eric Gordon is bullish about his chances of contending for a championship with his new team, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Gordon took a significant pay cut, agreeing to a minimum-salary deal with Phoenix. “I’m older in my career so I’ve played for a long time and money is not always such an issue,” Gordon said. “Of course, I want a lot more, don’t get me wrong. But at the end of the day, I want to do well here every year that I’m here and we’ll just see what happens down the line, but that’s why I want to come here, win a championship.”
- Although Sasha Vezenkov has officially signed his contract with the Kings, who submitted it to the NBA’s league office, the forward is still awaiting a letter of clearance from FIBA in order for that contract to become legally binding, a source tells Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. That’s expected to happen soon, at which point the Kings will officially announce the signing.
- After missing the Warriors‘ first three Las Vegas Summer League games due to a right hamstring injury, second-round pick Trayce Jackson-Davis made his debut on Thursday, scoring 14 points and grabbing seven rebounds in 20 minutes. C.J. Holmes of The San Francisco Chronicle takes a look at what Golden State is getting in Jackson-Davis, a mature 23-year-old rookie who may nonetheless find minutes hard to come by in his first NBA season.
JULY 13: The signing of Vezenkov is now official, per the NBA’s transactions log.
JULY 1: EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov is signing a three-year, $20MM contract with the Kings, who held his draft rights, his agents tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Reports over the past couple months have indicated that Sacramento was determined to bring Vezenkov stateside and would renew contract talks with the European star once they were permitted to following the draft. Harry Stavrou of Greek outlet Sport24.gr reported last week that the Kings offered the European star a contract for “slightly lower” than the $8.4MM Keegan Murray will make in 2023/24, and that figure turned out to be accurate.
Given his reported salary, Vezenkov will either be receiving part of the Kings’ full mid-level exception if they operate as an over-the-cap team, or he could receive most of their room exception if they choose to use cap room. Both options are on the table based on their previous moves this offseason.
Vezenkov, 27, is under contract with Olympiacos through ’24/25, but has a buyout clause believed to be worth approximately 1.5 million Euros. He talked about being “ready for new challenges” after his Greek club lost in the EuroLeague final.
The 6’9″ Bulgarian forward averaged 17.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists on a sparkling .546/.398/.857 shooting slash line in 33 EuroLeague games this past season (28.7 MPG). Wojnarowski says (via Twitter) the former second-round pick is expected to have a “formidable role” for Sacramento.
- In an interview with Eurohoops.net, reigning EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkov talked about his decision to sign with the Kings and being an NBA rookie at 27 years old. “It’s a dream and a potential,” the forward said as part of larger quote. “Because I’m not doing this just for living the NBA dream. In any dream, I see potential. A potential that can teach me something and evolve me. I’m not going to the USA to come back soon. I want to be tested in the NBA. I’m thinking about everything positively. I’ll start at zero. Now, the work I’ll do will be even bigger. I know what I’ve been through and how much I’ve worked. You can’t buy experience. I think the circumstances are the best.”
2:33pm: Sabonis did not undergo surgery on his thumb, a league source tells James Ham of The Kings Beat (Twitter link). It seems that Maksvytis was misinformed or something was lost in translation.
The Kings’ big man continues to follow a “strict rehab protocol,” Ham adds.
12:57pm: Kings center Domantas Sabonis, who suffered an avulsion fracture in his right thumb last season, underwent a surgical procedure to address the injury, according to Lithuanian national team head coach Kazys Maksvytis.
The Kings have been cagey about providing updates on Sabonis’ thumb during the offseason, with general manager Monte McNair declining to comment in his post-draft press conference on whether or not the star center went under the knife.
However, as BasketNews.com relays, in discussing the anticipated absence of Sabonis for the 2023 World Cup, Maksvytis confirmed in a presser of his own that the big man underwent surgery.
“He tried to recover without the surgery, but it didn’t work, and he lost time,” Maksvytis said. “After the surgery, everything takes longer.”
Sabonis, who broke his thumb in December, only missed a single game before returning to action. The injury didn’t slow him down much, as he averaged 19.1 points, a league-leading 12.3 rebounds, and 7.3 assists in 79 games (34.6 MPG) during his first full season in Sacramento, earning his third All-Star berth and his first All-NBA nod. Sabonis cashed in this offseason when he signed a four-year extension that includes a renegotiated salary for 2023/24.
Without a formal update from the Kings, it’s unclear what sort of recovery timeline Sabonis might be looking at or whether he’ll be available when training camp begins in September. However, McNair did say last month that the team’s expectation is that the 27-year-old will be “good to go” for the regular season this fall.
As for Lithuania’s national team, Maksvytis said during his press conference that Sabonis “apologized for not coming and promised to be available next summer” for the 2024 Olympics.
Kings restricted free agent Neemias Queta has been diagnosed with a stress reaction and a metatarsal capsule sprain in his right foot, the team announced in a press release.
Queta’s injury occurred during the second quarter of Sacramento’s Summer League game against the Clippers on Monday. The big man, who will celebrate his 24th birthday on Thursday, had a double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds) in the Kings’ first game in Las Vegas on Friday, but has been ruled out for the rest of Summer League.
Queta’s recovery process will be worth keeping an eye on going forward because he’s not yet under contract for the 2023/24 season. The former Utah State standout finished last season on a two-way deal with the Kings and received a qualifying offer from the club in June, making him a restricted free agent.
Because Queta was on a two-way contract with Sacramento for consecutive seasons, his qualifying offer is equivalent to a minimum-salary deal with a $75K partial guarantee.
While he has the option of accepting that QO, Queta’s grip on a roster spot might be precarious in that scenario due to his small partial guarantee — he’d likely prefer to negotiate a new standard contract with the Kings that includes a little more protection. He has also indicated that he’d be open to signing another two-way deal if that’s what it takes to stick with the organization.
Queta only appeared in five NBA games for Sacramento last season, but thrived at the G League level, earning a spot on the All-NBAGL First Team and finishing second in MVP voting. He averaged 16.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.9 blocks in 27.7 minutes per game across 29 regular season appearances for the Stockton Kings.
Once Sasha Vezenkov officially signs his reported deal with the Kings, the club will have 13 players on standard contracts and two on two-way pacts, not counting Queta.