No player who signed a rookie scale extension this week has more potential variance from year to year than Kings shooting guard Buddy Hield. While his new deal has a base value of $86MM over four seasons, Hield can reportedly earn an extra $5MM in annual incentives, increasing the total value of the extension to $106MM.
However, maxing out on all those incentives won’t be easy, as Jason Jones and Sam Amick of The Athletic detail. For instance, more than half of Hield’s annual bonuses are tied to the following achievements:
- Being named an All-Star ($1MM)
- Kings make the playoffs ($500K)
- Kings make it to Western Semifinals ($250K)
- Kings make it to Western Finals ($500K)
- Kings make it to NBA Finals ($1MM)
Another $2MM in annual incentives are more reachable, but are hardly locks. According to Jones and Amick, Hield could earn up to $2MM if he appears in at least 70 games and achieves the following benchmarks:
- Makes at least 85.0% of his free throws ($500K)
- Averages fewer than two turnovers per game ($500K)
- Leads the NBA in made three-pointers ($500K)
- Has a defensive rating below 110.5 ($500K)
Hield wasn’t an All-Star in 2018/19 and the Kings didn’t make the playoffs. However, he appeared in all 82 games and made 88.6% of his free throw attempts, averaged 1.8 turnovers per game, and had a defensive rating of 110.0. So if he were to repeat those numbers, he’d earn $1.5MM in bonus money.
Here are a couple more notes on the Kings:
- Big man Harry Giles won’t be ready to start the regular season, head coach Luke Walton confirmed earlier this week (link via Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee). Giles, who is dealing with left knee soreness, isn’t yet participating in the contact portion of Kings’ practices.
- Wenyen Gabriel‘s new contract with the Kings is a non-guaranteed one-year deal worth the minimum, tweets Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports. Gabriel, who was moved to the 15-man roster on Monday, would be a restricted free agent at season’s end if he finishes the contract.
- James Patrick of The Sacramento Bee explores the best- and worst-case scenarios for the Kings in 2019/20.
How about “Fulfilling your contract, playing up to your abilities and staying out of trouble…” $86m extension & not a penny more? Why give him so many incentives to do what’s expected? Is he going to pay Sacramento back if he hits only 80% of his free throws or has three turnovers per game?
How about giving him the $106MM & forget the extras? Anyway what would the Kings do with the extra $5MM a year? Not good, right?