After four arrests for driving under the influence, the most significant obstacle for Ty Lawson as the guard tries to revive his career on a one-year, non-guaranteed deal with the Kings is himself, Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee writes. Lawson’s presence is vital for the Kings, who learned Sunday that Darren Collison will be suspended for eight games to start the season following his arrest on misdemeanor domestic violence charges, Voisin adds. What’s more, the Kings lost Rajon Rondo in free agency, which ultimately led to taking a chance on Lawson, as Voisin points out.
“We went over the (free agent) list and evaluated everybody and in terms of talent, nobody was close to Ty,” Kings GM Vlade Divac said. “But we needed to meet with him and talk about a few things before we offered a contract.”
Here’s more out of Sacramento:
- Collison’s eight-game suspension represents just a fraction of the 24 games Jeff Taylor received in 2014 for his misdemeanor domestic violence arrest. However, a person with knowledge of the investigation tells Sam Amick of USA Today that the same domestic violence experts consulted in the Taylor decision were used in the Collison case.
- While it seems to be an unlikely pairing, Kings big man Willie Cauley-Stein tells James Ham of CSNBayArea.com that Peja Stojakovic, the team’s VP of player personnel and development, has been mentoring him in preparation for the 2016/17 season. “Especially in the summer time, I did a lot of work,” Cauley-Stein said. “Our goal every day was to make 700 shots. So by the end of the week, we were making thousands of shots.”
- The Kings will play in the brand-new Golden 1 Center this season, an arena owner Vivek Ranadive calls “the world’s best,” per USA Today (video link). Former commissioner David Stern, who played a significant part in overseeing the sale of the Kings to Ranadive, vowed in a Sacramento Bee interview that he’ll be there for the team’s home opener.
Will Joseph contributed to this post.