TUESDAY, 8:15am: The sides are close on what would be a one-year arrangement, and the Kings are committed to getting a deal done, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link).
MONDAY, 9:12am: The Kings are making progress as they negotiate a deal with Luc Mbah a Moute, league sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports (on Twitter). The former King spent this past season as a starter for the Sixers. The talks are the latest development in an active summer for Sacramento after the team saw Andrea Bargnani slip through their hands Sunday and strike a deal with the Nets.
Mbah a Moute had wanted to return to Philadelphia, where coach Brett Brown was a fan, but with fellow Cameroonian Joel Embiid‘s career reportedly in jeopardy, the call for Mbah a Moute’s veteran mentorship of the would-be star might not be as great as it was this past season. The 2014/15 season was nonetheless a career year for Mbah a Moute, who averaged 9.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game as the Sixers clearly saw him as more than just an asset for the locker room.
Sacramento still hasn’t officially signed the five free agents with which it has reached agreements this month, so it’s unclear just how much cap flexibility is left for Mbah a Moute. Regardless, the Kings appear to at least have the power to spend their $2.814MM room exception on him. That would still be quite a bit less than the nearly $4.383MM the Darren Matsubara client made this past season. Mbah a Moute was briefly a King during 2013/14 before heading to Minnesota in the Derrick Williams trade.