The Kings have secured the three players they selected in the first round of this year’s draft, locking them up to rookie-scale contracts. The team announced today in a press release that Georgios Papagiannis (No. 13), Malachi Richardson (No. 22), and Skal Labissiere (No. 28) have all signed their deals.
[RELATED: 2016 Draft Pick Signings]
Sacramento acquired the rights to all three of their first-round picks via trades. Richardson was acquired in exchange from the Hornets in a deal for Marco Belinelli, while the team landed the Papagiannis and Labissiere picks in a swap with Phoenix that resulted in the Suns drafting Marquese Chriss.
The Papagiannis pick at No. 13 was viewed as one of the biggest surprises on draft night, since virtually no mock drafts had him coming off the board so early. Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com had the Greek center ranked as the 50th-best prospect in this year’s draft class. However, the Richardson and Labissiere selections received more positive feedback from draft experts.
As our breakdown of salaries for 2016’s first-rounders shows, Papagiannis will be in line for a probable first-year salary of about $2.202MM, with a four-year total exceeding $10MM on his rookie contract, assuming he signs for the maximum allowable 120% of the rookie scale. Richardson ($1.44MM first year, $7.095MM overall) and Labissiere ($1.189MM first year, $6.066MM overall) will receive more modest deals.