Sacramento Kings Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kings Sign Sam Merrill

August 12th, 2022 at 9:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

9:00pm: The signing is now official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.

4:39pm: The Kings are set to sign free agent shooting guard Sam Merrill, per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link).

Tony Jones of The Athletic reveals (via Twitter) that Merrill is signing a non-guaranteed two-year contract, meaning Merrill will be competing to join the team’s eventual 15-man roster in training camp. Sacramento currently has just 12 players inked to fully guaranteed deals, per our roster tracker.

Earlier this summer, Chima Moneke and Matthew Dellavedova were both also signed to non-guaranteed deals with a chance to make the opening night roster. Moneke’s contract includes a $250K partial guarantee.

The 6’4″ Merrill was selected with the final pick in the 2020 NBA draft out of Utah State by the Pelicans, then was dealt to the Bucks. He played in 30 games for the eventual champs, averaging 3.0 PPG and 1.0 RPG in 7.8 MPG during the regular season. During that rookie season, Merrill connected on 44.4% of his field goal attempts and 44.7% of his 1.6 triples a night.

The Bucks traded him to the Grizzlies during the 2021 offseason. He appeared in just six games for Memphis, averaging 9.7 MPG. The 26-year-old averaged 22.5 PPG, 5.5 APG and 5.5 RPG in two contests for the Grizzlies’ NBAGL affiliate, the Memphis Hustle.

Adding Merrill gives the Kings another potential long-distance shooting option as the team continues to retool its roster around its core of De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray and Davion Mitchell.

Pacific Notes: James, Spencer, Kings, Jones

August 12th, 2022 at 8:39pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

As the Lakers regroup from a miserable 2021/22 season, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer wonders if aging superstar forward LeBron James would benefit from taking a page out of Kevin Durant‘s book and requesting a trade away from Los Angeles on his current expiring deal.

O’Connor writes that, if the Lakers are unable to trade for James’s old running mate Kyrie Irving, the team could consider trying to trade for Pacers veterans Myles Turner and Buddy Hield or Jazz guards Patrick Beverley and Jordan Clarkson. O’Connor opines that James should wait to sign an extension with Los Angeles until next summer, after seeing what moves Los Angeles makes to try to return to title contention.

Later, O’Connor reviews potential landing destinations for James should he (hypothetically) demand to be traded, including the Suns, the Knicks, the Trail Blazers, and a few familiar locales.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

In an interview with Connor Letourneau of the San Francisco Chronicle, Warriors training camp invitee Pat Spencer discussed his decision to move on from a decorated four-year lacrosse career at Loyola University Maryland. The 6’3″ guard subsequently played a season of NCAA basketball as a graduate-transfer student at Northwestern for the 2019/20 season. Following his tenure as a Wildcat, Spencer played in Germany and with the Wizards’ NBAGL affiliate the Capital City Go-Go. “I can’t really articulate what I love so much about basketball,” Spencer said. “It’s always been my first love, with lacrosse a close second.”
Sleep Train Arena, the former home court of the Kings for 28 seasons, is being demolished to make way for a new 730,000-square foot hospital, plus 3,000 new residences, a theater, shops and trails, per Ryan Lillis of the Sacramento Bee. Sacramento moved to the newly-constructed Golden 1 Center in 2016, as a condition of the club’s sale to majority owner Vivek Ranadive in 2013.
The specter of a possible Suns trade for Kevin Durant could linger through the start of the regular season. Greg Moore of the Arizona Republic thinks Phoenix president James Jones should determine a definitive deadline when he will stop considering a trade for Durant, to avoid having that uncertainty linger for several more months.

Kings Officially Announce Mike Brown’s Coaching Staff

August 12th, 2022 at 12:28pm CST by Luke Adams

The Kings have finalized their coaching staff for Mike Brown‘s first season in Sacramento, according to a press release from the team.

As previously reported, former Nuggets assistant Jordi Fernandez is joining the Kings as associate head coach after working with Brown on the Nigerian national team. Jay Triano, Doug Christie, Luke Loucks, and Leandro Barbosa will also be assistant coaches on Brown’s staff, as anticipated.

Dutch Gaitley and Lindsey Harding will be assistants as well, with Gaitley serving as director of player development. Harding and Deividas Dulkys, whose hiring was previously reported, will be player development coaches.

Robbie Lemons (senior director of coaching analytics and strategy), Charles Allen (head video coordinator/special assistant to the head coach), and Garrius Adams (assistant video coordinator) will fill out the staff, which Brown referred to as a “diverse and talented group.”

Roy Rana, Mike Longabardi, and Rico Hines are among the veteran assistants on former head coach Alvin Gentry‘s staff who won’t be returning to Sacramento for the 2022/23 season. Longabardi joined the Hawks, Hines joined the Raptors, and Rana got a job coaching a team in Japan.

Pacific Notes: Kings, Suns, Saric, LeBron

August 11th, 2022 at 5:57pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

In taking stock of the Kings‘ entire 2022/23 roster, Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee finds some reasons for optimism.

Biderman cites the two-way upside and on-court fit of rookie Keegan Murray, the Summer League MVP and No. 4 overall draft pick this year, as a key part of the sunny outlook for Sacramento this season.

As Biderman notes, star point guard De’Aaron Fox struggled to connect consistently from long range for the bulk of the season, but made 38% of his triples across his final 16 contests, following the team’s trade for center Domantas Sabonis. Biderman considers Murray, Fox, Sabonis and second-year guard Davion Mitchell, the ninth pick in 2021 out of Baylor, to be the club’s core moving forward.

Biderman also expresses enthusiasm for the three-point shooting help that should be provided by new additions Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk.

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

The Suns may be able to build on their continuity after two relatively successful seasons, but Bobby Marks of ESPN (YouTube video link) wonders how newly re-signed center Deandre Ayton will fit in following a tense postseason and summer. Marks ultimately projects a repeat of the team’s regular-season dominance in 2021/22. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst opines that the Suns could look to move veteran starting power forward Jae Crowder, a free agent in 2023, by the season’s trade deadline.
After missing 2021/22 with a torn ACL in his right knee, Suns big man Dario Saric talked about returning to game action for Croatia this summer, writes Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. “The feeling of being back is fantastic,” Saric said. “After the end of the NBA season, I trained there until mid-July. I was preparing to be as fit as possible. I feel good.”
Discussing LeBron James‘ contract situation, Tim Bontemps of ESPN (Twitter video link) opines that it might behoove the Lakers‘ All-Star forward to follow the example set by Sixers guard James Harden. Harden opted out of the final year of his deal this summer before ultimately taking a pay cut so that Philadelphia management could add more quality depth around Harden and Joel Embiid than would have otherwise been possible. If James takes the same route, it could potentially open up a maximum-salary slot for L.A. next summer, Bontemps observes.

Western Notes: Clarkson, Huerter, Bertans, Brooks

August 9th, 2022 at 6:12pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

With the future of the Jazz uncertain following the trade of Rudy Gobert and news that the team is open to moving its other 2022 All-Star (Donovan Mitchell), 2021 Sixth Man of the Year Jordan Clarkson is keeping an even keel, writes Sarah Todd of the Deseret News.

“My vibe is always good,” Clarkson said of his attitude while dealing with the Jazz’s tenuous outlook. “This is my ninth year going into the league. I know how the business of basketball works… This is all part of what it is. But my preparation never changes and I’m going to wake up every morning and be me and do what I do. Everything is good.”

There’s more out of the West:

New Kings shooting guard Kevin Huerter is bringing his playoff pedigree to Sacramento and hopes to help Sacramento reach the postseason, writes Jarrod Castillo of NBC Sports Bay Area. “I feel like I’ve been through a lot there, having that playoff experience,” Huerter said. The 6’5″ wing added that he’s “hungry to win” with his new club.
In his first full season for the Mavericks, power forward Davis Bertans needs to return to the level of long-range shooting that earned him his current $80MM contract, writes Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com. During the 2019/20 season, Bertans connected on 42.4% of his 8.7 three-pointers a night. Last season, in 22 games for Dallas, he connected on 36% of his 3.9 looks a game, a solid but not elite percentage.
Veteran swingman Dillon Brooks appears likely to earn a contract extension offer from the Grizzlies, writes Chris Herring of the Daily Memphian in a subscriber-exclusive story. However, Herring expects Brooks to reject such an offer. During the 2021/22 season, Brooks was limited to just 32 games. When he could suit up, he averaged 18.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.8 APG and 1.1 SPG.

Kings Agree To One-Year Deal With Quinn Cook

August 8th, 2022 at 8:47pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Kings are signing point guard Quinn Cook to a one-year contract, ESPN’s Marc Spears tweets.

Cook played for the G League Stockton Kings last season. He’ll compete for the third point guard spot behind De’Aaron Fox and Davion Mitchell, so he’s no lock to make the 15-man roster.

His main competition appears to be Matthew Dellavedova, who will enter training camp with a non-guaranteed deal.

The Kings’ interest in Cook was reported last month.

Cook has played for New Orleans, Dallas, Golden State, the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland. He was a member of two championship teams — the Warriors in 2018 and Lakers in 2020.

He didn’t play in an NBA game last season but saw action in a combined 23 games for the Lakers and Cavaliers during the 2020/21 season. In 188 career games, he’s averaged 6.4 PPG and 1.6 APG in 14.1 MPG.

With the G League Kings, Cook appeared in 11 games and averaged 23.5 PPG and 5.9 APG.

Kings Signing Kent Bazemore To One-Year Deal

August 7th, 2022 at 6:04pm CST by JD Shaw

The Kings have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent swingman Kent Bazemore, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). It’s unclear whether the deal is guaranteed, but Bazemore is set to join Sacramento for the second time in his career.

Bazemore most recently played for the Lakers, appearing in just 39 games last season. He averaged 3.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 14.0 minutes per contest, shooting 32% from the floor and 36% from deep.

Before that, the 33-year-old played for the Warriors, Hawks, Blazers and Kings. Along with the Kings, Bazemore holds two separate stints with the Warriors (2012-14 and 2020-21), plus the Lakers (2013-14 and 2021-22). He owns career averages of 8.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

The Kings currently have just 12 players on fully guaranteed contracts, so even if Bazemore’s deal isn’t guaranteed, he should have an opportunity to compete for one of the final spots on the team’s 15-man regular season roster.

Sacramento is coming off a 30-52 season, having missed the playoffs for an NBA-record 16th straight year. The team has a core of De’Aaron Fox, Davion Mitchell, Harrison Barnes, Domantas Sabonis and others that likely won’t finish drastically better than it did last season.

Did The Kings' Roster Improve Enough?

August 3rd, 2022 at 11:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

James Ham of The Kings Beat examines the Kings‘ new-look roster to see if they’ve upgraded enough to break their long playoff drought.

Contract Details: Dellavedova, McGruder, Knox

August 3rd, 2022 at 12:11pm CST by Luke Adams

Matthew Dellavedova‘s new one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Kings, originally reported as partially guaranteed, is actually non-guaranteed for the time being, Hoops Rumors has learned.

Dellavedova will receive a partial guarantee of $250K if he’s not waived before Sacramento’s first game of the regular season, then would lock in his full $2.63MM guarantee if he remains under contract through the NBA’s league-wide guarantee deadline of January 7.

Here are a few more details on recently signed NBA contracts:

Rodney McGruder‘s one-year, minimum-salary deal with the Pistons is fully guaranteed, Hoops Rumors has learned. That gives Detroit 17 players on guaranteed contracts, though one of those players (Kemba Walker) is very likely to be bought out. The Pistons would still have to trade or release one more player with a guaranteed salary in order to get to the 15-man regular season limit.
Kevin Knox‘s two-year, $6MM contract with the Pistons is worth a flat $3MM in each of the two seasons. While the first year is guaranteed, the deal includes a team option for the 2023/24 season.
As expected, Goran Dragic‘s one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Bulls and JaMychal Green‘s with the Warriors are both fully guaranteed.

Kings Sign Matthew Dellavedova

July 29th, 2022 at 2:03pm CST by Luke Adams

2:03pm: It’s a one-year, partially guaranteed contract for Dellavedova, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).

1:59pm: The Kings have signed free agent guard Matthew Dellavedova, the team announced today (via Twitter).

Dellavedova, who will turn 32 in September, has 447 regular season NBA appearances under his belt, having spent eight years playing for the Cavaliers and Bucks. However, he was limited to just 13 games with Cleveland in 2020/21 (his last NBA season) due to various health issues, including a concussion and an emergency appendectomy.

The Australian guard returned home to play for Melbourne United this past season and had a solid season with the club, averaging 10.6 PPG, 4.9 APG, and 3.0 RPG on .407/.380/.756 shooting in 27 contests (25.3 MPG).

Dellavedova reportedly worked out for the Kings and new head coach Mike Brown – who coached the veteran in Cleveland – in Las Vegas earlier this month in the hopes of earning a camp invite. Sacramento has been on the lookout for point guard depth, having also been linked to Quinn Cook.

While the terms of Dellavedova’s new contract aren’t yet known, it will almost certainly be worth the veteran’s minimum. It’s possible his salary won’t be fully guaranteed, but I expect he’ll have an opportunity to earn a regular season roster spot this fall.