With Sacramento having 14 players with fully guaranteed deals on the books, Lamar Patterson knows he has to have a strong showing during the preseason if he hopes to break camp as a member of the Kings‘ regular season roster, Cody Taylor of Basketball Insiders writes in his profile of the swingman.“[I’m] going in prepared and just doing simple things,” Patterson said. “I don’t have to go out there and try to force the issue because that’s not my game, that’s not what I do. I just go out there and take what’s given. Just being able to have that mindset and just work and control what I can control and that’s your work ethic and attitude. Just going into camp I’m really excited by the past few weeks I’ve been in Sacramento with the guys and the way the ball has been flowing. I feel like the opportunity is definitely going to be there and it’s just up to me to take advantage.”
The Kings claimed Patterson off waivers in July, inheriting his $874,636 salary for next season, after he was waived by the Hawks. Patterson made 35 appearances for Atlanta in 2015/16, averaging 2.4 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 11.3 minutes per outing. His shooting line was .350/.245/.727.
Here’s more from out West:
- Matt Barnes, who inked a two-year deal with the Kings this summer, almost was a member of the Clippers instead, the forward told J.J. Redick on his podcast (h/t Dan Woike of The Orange County Register). Barnes noted that Clippers coach/executive Doc Rivers told him “there’s a spot here for you” at the beginning of free agency, and the two were supposed to meet for dinner, Woike relays. “I was very excited to be coming back to L.A.,” Barnes said. But before the pair could meet, Los Angeles re-signed Wesley Johnson using their mid-level exception, Woike writes. Barnes then reached out to Rivers to see if he was still part of the Clippers’ plan, but Rivers said the Clippers had run out of money, as he told Redick.
- Bobby Marks of The Vertical took a look back at the Warriors‘ offseason, one in which the team added Kevin Durant, David West, Anderson Varejao and JaVale McGee, among others.
- The Lakers made some significant investments this offseason in adding veterans Timofey Mozgov (four years, $64MM) and Luol Deng (four years, $72MM) to the roster. Kurt Helin of NBC.com takes a stab at predicting whether or not L.A. will get its money’s worth out of the duo or if the contracts will hamper the franchise’s rebuilding efforts.