Kings Rumors

Rajon Rondo Discusses Free Agency, 2015/16 Kings

Veteran point guard Rajon Rondo is eligible for free agency this summer, and while there’s a chance he’ll return to Sacramento, it sounds like those odds would have been very slim if George Karl hadn’t been replaced by Dave Joerger as the team’s head coach. In an appearance on ESPN’s The Jump, Rondo said that the tension between the Kings‘ coaching staff and DeMarcus Cousins was unlike anything he’d seen in his NBA career.

“There were too many distractions on and off the court,” Rondo said. “The organization as a whole, I don’t think was together completely. I think as a team you have to want the best for the next man beside you, and that wasn’t the case with the Sacramento Kings.”

Asked about his free agency, Rondo didn’t rule out a return to the Kings, but suggested he’ll explore his option. The point guard will be prioritizing a landing spot where his teammates are willing to work hard to grow and get better. “I don’t want to be the hardest-working guy in the gym,” Rondo said.

  • Colorado State guard Antwan Scott, who previously worked out for Denver, will be part of a group workout on Wednesday for the Kings, tweets Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops.

Warriors Consider Tyrone Corbin, Mike Brown

Tyrone Corbin has emerged along with Mike Brown as the top candidates to be the lead assistant in Golden State next season, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Brown has been linked to the position before, but Corbin, a former teammate of Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, is a new name in the mix. (Twitter link).

Corbin is a former head coach with the Kings and Jazz and has been out of coaching since being relieved of his interim position with Sacramento when George Karl was hired in 2015. He has been working as an adviser to the Kings’ front office ever since.

Brown served as head coach of the Cavaliers and Lakers and has been out of coaching since Cleveland fired him after the 2013/14 season. Brown reportedly turned down an assistant’s position in Memphis last week.

The Warriors’ lead assistant job will be open once the NBA Finals are done and Luke Walton leaves to become head coach of the Lakers. He held the position in Golden State for one season, taking over when Alvin Gentry left to take the reins in New Orleans.

Ford: Kings Eyeing Buddy Hield At No. 8

  • Ford believes the Kings are eyeing Buddy Hield with the No. 8 overall pick. If Hield is off the board when Sacramento’s pick arrives, the Kings may end up trading the selection (Twitter link).

2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Kings

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams had one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors are recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Sacramento Kings, whose D-League affiliate is the Reno Bighorns:


The Kings made 8 assignments for the 2015/16 season, sending two players to the D-League for a total of 98 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Sacramento for the 2015/16 campaign:


Here’s how Sacramento’s players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

  • Duje Dukan: In 27 appearances Dukan averaged 14.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 28.9 minutes per outing. His slash line was .403/.371/.722.
  • Eric Moreland: In five appearances Moreland averaged 9.6 points, 14.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in 27.0 minutes per contest. His shooting numbers were .553/.000/.286.

Former Kings Assistant May Join Grizzlies

  • The Grizzlies are considering former Kings assistant Chad Iske for a spot on David Fizdale’s staff, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Iske was an assistant to George Karl in Sacramento, but wasn’t retained when Dave Joerger took over last month. Former Cavaliers and Lakers head coach Mike Brown already turned down a job with Memphis, Stein reports.

Offseason Salary Cap Digest: Sacramento Kings

At the time the Kings finished their 2015/16 campaign, Rajon Rondo was the only player on the roster on track for unrestricted free agency. Since then, James Anderson and Quincy Acy have opted out of their contracts, and Caron Butler could follow suit, but Rondo will be the key free agent to watch. If Sacramento doesn’t bring him back, the team will need to address its point guard situation — Darren Collison is the only player under contract at the position, and he was recently arrested on a domestic violence charge, which could affect his availability for next season, depending on how the case plays out. The guaranteed contracts on the Kings’ books, along with the No. 8 overall pick, amount to about $64MM, so the team should have a good chunk of cap room to utilize if Rondo lands elsewhere.

See how Sacramento’s cap situation looks for 2016/17 as Hoops Rumors continues its offseason salary cap digest series.

Guaranteed Salary

Player Options

Team Options

  • None

Non-Guaranteed Salary

Restricted Free Agents (Qualifying Offers/Cap Holds)

Unrestricted Free Agents (Cap Holds)

Other Cap Holds

  • No. 8 pick ($2,451,200)

Projected Salary Cap: $92,000,000

Footnotes:

  1. Curry, Acy, and Anderson all declined player options for 2016/17.

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Kings Announce Coaching Staff

  • The Kings officially announced Dave Joerger‘s coaching staff for the 2016/17 season. Elston Turner will be the lead assistant, with Duane Ticknor, Bryan Gates, Corliss Williamson, Nancy Lieberman and Jason March rounding out the staff. “We’ve united a tremendously dedicated, hard-working coaching staff with a unique, collective set of experiences and strengths that I’m confident will serve the team well moving forward,” said Joerger.

Draft Updates: Dunn, Suns, Celtics, Pelicans

Last month, we heard that former Providence point guard Kris Dunn may refuse to release his medical records to the Celtics and Suns, since he prefers not to land with a team with a young point guard or two already in place. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM is hearing similar rumblings, tweeting that Dunn isn’t interested in working out for Phoenix or sharing his medical records with the Suns — Gambardo hears that the point guard would like to land with the Timberwolves.

Let’s check out a few more draft-related updates…

  • While the Celtics may not be Dunn’s preferred destination, ESPN’s Chad Ford (Insider link) has the Providence product going to Boston at No. 3 in his latest mock draft, writing that he thinks the C’s will choose one of Dunn, Jamal Murray, or Marquese Chriss. Dragan Bender, who has also been viewed as a candidate for that No. 3 pick, goes sixth overall in Ford’s latest mock, with the ESPN.com scribe writing that the Pelicans are believed to be “pretty big fans” of the 18-year-old big man.
  • Also within his mock draft, Ford writes that Kings GM Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive love Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, and suggests that the Raptors have been “secretly hoping” Chriss falls to them at No. 9, which appears increasingly unlikely.
  • Former Seton Hall point guard Isaiah Whitehead has workouts with the Nuggets and Pistons lined up for June 10th and 15th, respectively, and will work out for the Bulls and Nets after that, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
  • After working out for Philadelphia on Thursday, Daniel Hamilton (UConn) will work out for the Rockets, Warriors, and Bucks, while Alex Caruso (Texas A&M) will work out for the Knicks, Wizards, and Celtics, per Jessica Camerato of CSNPhilly.com (Twitter links).

Marquese Chriss Interested In Playing For Kings

Former Washington power forward Marquese Chriss figures to be one of the first several players to come off the board three weeks from tonight – the latest mock draft at DraftExpress has him being picked third by Boston – but it sounds as if Chriss wouldn’t mind still being available at No. 8. As Sean Deveney of The Sporting News writes, Chriss grew up in the Sacramento area, and would love to play for the Kings, who hold the No. 8 pick and are “ready for any scenario” with that selection, per James Ham of CSN California.

“That would be everything,” Chriss said of the possibility of playing for the Kings. “It would be cool, my family could come to half the games. To be in an environment with a new arena, they’re rebuilding their program, that would be really cool.”

Kings Notes: Gates, Collison, Malou

We heard last week that new Kings head coach Dave Joerger was targeting Bryan Gates as a potential assistant. Now, James Ham of CSN California hears from a source that Gates – a former Sacramento assistant who worked for Minnesota last year and the Pelicans before that – is indeed to set to come aboard Joerger’s staff. Last week’s report indicated that Joerger and the Kings were also pursuing Elston Turner, but there are no official updates yet on that front.

  • Kings point guard Darren Collison was arrested on a domestic violence charge earlier this week, but his lawyer, Bill Portanova, called it a “misunderstanding” that he’s “working to straighten out,” writes Andy Furillo of The Sacramento Bee. As Furillo observes, it makes sense to wait to see how the case plays out before predicting what it might mean for Collison or the Kings.
  • Emmanuel Malou, who was set to transfer to Iowa State before deciding to remain in the 2016 draft, recently worked out for the Kings, per The Sacramento Bee.