The Kings have guaranteed the contracts of center Damian Jones and Chimezie Metu, according to tweets from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and NBC Sports Bay Area’s James Ham, respectively. Jones’ contract is now fully guaranteed while Metu received a partial guarantee.
The 26-year-old Jones, the former 30th overall pick by the Warriors in 2016, was assured of his $1.98MM salary for 2021/22 as long as he wasn’t waived today, ESPN’s Bobby Marks explains (via Twitter). After bouncing around the league, Jones finished last season in Sacramento, playing 17 games for the Kings and averaging 6.9 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 1.0 BPG in 20 minutes a night.
His play as the team’s backup center at the end of the season allowed him to parlay his two separate 10-day contracts into a partially-guaranteed deal. He will now go into the season holding onto the Kings’ 14th roster spot.
Metu, who was converted from a two-way contract at the end of last season, is he Kings’ 15th man for the time being. The 24-year-old power forward/center has improved each year in the league, averaging 6.3 PPG and 3.1 RPG while shooting 35% from three last season, all career-highs.
According to Ham, Metu’s contract is now partially guaranteed for $881,398 — it has the potential to be worth $1.8MM over the entire season if he sticks with the team.
Good for you Damian!
Guy deserves a job in this league somewhere, hope he gets some minutes over there this year
The Kings have way too many bigs right now and no small forwards.