Kings Losing Leverage With Cousins?
The Kings are losing leverage the longer they hold onto DeMarcus Cousins, contends Shaun Powell of NBA.com. The All-Star center has two seasons left on his current deal, making nearly $17MM for the upcoming season and more than $18MM in 2017/18. Powell believes teams will be less likely to trade for Cousins as his free agency date nears, and Sacramento will have a hard time keeping him if he stays until the end of his contract. The writer isn’t a fan of the Kings’ offseason moves, as they made little effort to re-sign league assist leader Rajon Rondo, drafted two unproven big men, put Rudy Gay on the trading block and signed 30-year-old Arron Afflalo.
- The Kings made a mistake by letting Seth Curry get away, writes A.J. Neuharth-Keusch of USA Today. Even though Curry has only appeared in 48 NBA games, he showed promise at the end of last season, averaging 16.4 points, 5.3 assists and 3.3 three-pointers per night over his final seven games. Curry signed a two-year, $6MM deal with the Mavericks in July.
NBA Teams With Full Rosters
While NBA teams are limited to carrying 15 players on their regular-season rosters (with a few exceptions), roster limits expand to 20 players during the offseason. The five extra roster slots allow clubs to bring in veterans hopeful of earning a place on the regular-season roster, or young players who may eventually be ticketed for D-League assignments.
Most teams will fill up their 20-man rosters for training camp, but at this point in the NBA offseason, it can be difficult to determine which clubs still have room on their rosters. Many potential camp invitees have reportedly reached agreements with teams, but those signings haven’t yet been officially announced.
By our count, there are currently just two team at the 20-man offseason roster limit. One is the 76ers, who were at the 20-man limit for much of the offseason before waiving Carl Landry and Tibor Pleiss. Since then, they’ve added Elton Brand and Cat Barber, though it appears only 11 of the club’s 20 players have fully guaranteed salaries for 2016/17.
Meanwhile, on their official website, the Nuggets list 14 players who have guaranteed contracts, plus Axel Toupane, JaKarr Sampson, and D.J. Kennedy, who are on non-guaranteed or partially-guaranteed deals. In addition to those 17 players, the team has also reportedly reached agreements with Nate Wolters, Robbie Hummel, and Jarnell Stokes, bringing Denver’s total roster count to 20.
Still, not all of Denver’s signings are official, and even once they are, the Nuggets could easily make room for another player by cutting a non-guaranteed salary from their books. The same can be said for Philadelphia. While their rosters may technically be “full,” it’s not as if the Nuggets and the Sixers don’t have the flexibility to replace a camp invitee with a veteran free agent, if they so choose.
A more productive way of determining which teams’ rosters are “full” at this point in the offseason might be to examine the number of guaranteed salaries on their books. The deadline for teams to stretch the 2016/17 salary of a waived player is now behind us, so any team that cuts a player with a guaranteed salary won’t be able to reduce that cap hit unless the player agrees to a buyout. Most teams are reluctant to add much dead money to their cap with such a move, so if a club has 15 guaranteed contracts on its cap, we can assume its regular-season roster is fairly set, barring a trade or a surprise cut.
Here are the NBA teams that currently have 15 (or more) guaranteed salaries on their roster:
Poll: Ty Lawson’s NBA Future
Although Ty Lawson never earned an All-Star nod during his six years in Denver, he was playing at an All-Star level during his final couple seasons with the Nuggets. In 2013/14, the former first-round pick averaged a career-high 17.6 PPG to go along with 8.8 APG and 1.6 SPG. A year later, he increased his APG to 9.6 while chipping in 15.2 PPG and 1.2 SPG.
However, Lawson’s playing career was derailed by a series of off-court incidents, including multiple DUI arrests and a stint in an alcohol treatment facility. The Nuggets sent him to the Rockets, who eventually waived him. Lawson joined the Pacers for the end of the 2015/16 season and for the playoffs, but he looked like a shell of his former shelf in Houston and Indiana, setting new career lows in categories like PPG, FG%, 3PT%, FT%, and several others.
In 2016/17, Lawson will get a fresh start in Sacramento, having signed a one-year, non-guaranteed deal with the Kings. As Oliver Maroney of Basketball Insiders writes, many people close to Lawson believe he can bounce back and show that he’s capable of being a starting NBA point guard once again, while others around the league believe this might be his last shot to stick on an NBA roster.
The Kings lost starting point guard Rajon Rondo in free agency, and Darren Collison will almost certainly face a suspension from the league after agreeing to a plea deal in a domestic violence case. Sacramento has a couple other candidates for that point guard spot on its roster – including free agent signee Garrett Temple – but the door is open for Lawson to potentially earn the starting job to begin the regular season.
What do you expect from Lawson in Sacramento this season, and in general going forward? Will he bounce back from an awful year and recapture the form that made him a standout player in Denver? Is last year’s production the new normal for Lawson? Does he have a decent NBA future ahead of him, or was 2015/16 the beginning of the end? Weigh in below with your vote and your comments!
What does Ty Lawson's NBA future hold?
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He'll be an NBA backup PG going forward 39% (243)
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He'll become a solid starting PG again 33% (210)
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He'll be out of the NBA within the next couple years 28% (174)
Total votes: 627
Trade Rumors App users, click here to vote.
Kings Sign Isaiah Cousins
One of the final few unsigned picks from the 2016 draft has a new contract in place, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). Charania reports that the Kings have signed 59th overall selection Isaiah Cousins to a partially guaranteed, one-year contract.
Cousins (no relation to DeMarcus) is a 6’6″ shooting guard out of Oklahoma who became the second-last player selected in this year’s draft. In his final year with the Sooners, Cousins averaged 12.6 PPG, 4.5 APG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.4 SPG in 37 contests. The senior also shot 41.1% on three-point attempts and made nearly two of them per game — his shooting percentage was better on three-pointers than on two-pointers for a second consecutive season.
With 14 guaranteed contracts on their books already, the Kings may not have room on their regular-season roster for Cousins. Unless the team waives another player, the 22-year-old rookie would have to beat out both Ty Lawson and Lamar Patterson – along with any other camp invitees – to grab a spot on the 15-man roster.
If Sacramento ultimately cuts Cousins before the regular season begins, the team would retain its D-League rights to him, and could assign him to the Reno Bighorns. However, if another NBA club wanted to sign Cousins to its 15-man roster, the Kings wouldn’t be able to stop that from happening.
With Cousins locked up, there are only two 2016 draftees – Daniel Hamilton of the Thunder and Tyrone Wallace of the Jazz – whose outlooks for 2016/17 remain uncertain. For a team to retain its NBA rights to a second-round pick, it must tender a one-year, minimum-salary contract offer by September 6, so it’s possible Hamilton and Wallace will have their situations resolved soon as well.
While Cousins’ contract will likely be a minimum-salary pact, the Kings still have their $2.898MM room exception available, so they could have offered more than the minimum.
Rudy Gay Will Likely Turn Down Player Option
- Rudy Gay will likely leave the Kings either via trade this season or in free agency next year, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders writes. Gay holds a player option worth slightly more than $14.26MM for the 2017/18 campaign and Kyler believes the forward turns it down in search of a long-term deal.
Darren Collison Agrees To Plea Deal
The domestic violence case against the Kings’ Darren Collison has been resolved, with the point guard agreeing to a plea deal, James Ham of CSNBayArea.com reports. As part of the arrangement, Collison pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor domestic violence, Ham notes. The 29-year-old received a 20-day jail sentence, which he will serve in an Alternative Sentencing Program, where he will work on community service projects overseen by Placer County. He will not spend any time incarcerated, per the scribe.
In addition to community service, Collison was also sentenced to three years of informal probation and he is required to attend a 52-week “Batterer Treatment” class, which is mandatory by the state of California in all domestic violence convictions, Ham relays.
“Words cannot describe the feelings and regret that I have been experiencing the last few months,” Collison said in a statement. “My family and I found ourselves in such an unfamiliar situation and it has been a difficult few months. This is far from who I am as a person and not something I am proud of. I take full responsibility for my actions. I have apologized to my beautiful wife that I have known and loved since high school. I appreciate and am thankful for the love and understanding from my family, friends and supporters. Now it is time to put this behind us and move forward.”
The Kings also released a statement on the matter, which read: “Domestic violence is a serious issue across our nation and one that runs contrary to our organization’s values. We’re disappointed by Darren’s behavior and today he accepted full responsibility for his actions. He is committed to using this incident to help raise awareness through education of this critical issue in the community. We’re working with Darren and the NBA on the appropriate next steps.”
With Collison now officially convicted of a crime, he will almost assuredly be facing a suspension by the NBA. The previous precedent established for what Collison and Sacramento could be facing was when Jeff Taylor pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor domestic assault charge back in 2014 and received a 24-game suspension from the NBA as a result.
Kings Notes: Arena, Thompson, Lawson
- The club will work out swingman Mychel Thompson, brother of Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson, international journalist David Pick tweets. Mychel Thompson has played parts of the last three seasons with the D-League Santa Cruz Warriors. He also appeared in 14 games with Pallacanestro Varese of Italy last season before rejoining Santa Cruz.
- Point guard Ty Lawson made a foolhardy decision last summer when he consented to give up $13.2MM in salary non-guaranteed to facilitate a trade from the Nuggets to the Rockets, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders points out (Twitter links). Lawson was subsequently waived and wound up with the Pacers, where he played 13 games. He couldn’t find a team before he signed a $1.3MM summer contract with the Kings on Wednesday that offers him no salary protection, even if he’s injured.
Rudy Gay's Option Creates Complication In Trade Talks
- Rudy Gay‘s 2017/18 player option has been a complication in trade talks, since some potential suitors don’t want to take on that option, and others would want assurances he’ll opt in, per Kyler. Still, the Kings appear ready to move on, with Kyler suggesting it’s probably “a matter of when rather than if” Gay gets traded.
[SOURCE LINK]
Kings Sign Ty Lawson To One-Year Deal
AUGUST 31: The Kings have officially signed Lawson, the team announced today in a press release. According to a report from CSNCalifornia.com, the point guard’s one-year deal isn’t guaranteed, so the team won’t be on the hook for his full salary if he’s cut before January 10.
AUGUST 28: The Kings have reached an agreement with free agent point guard Ty Lawson, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, Sacramento is signing Lawson to a one-year contract for the coming season.
Lawson visited the Kings on Saturday and ultimately decided to sign with the team despite having also received “serious interest” from the Pelicans, tweets Wojnarowski. The 28-year-old has seen his career trajectory change significantly within the last couple years, after he was arrested multiple times on DUI charges and spent time in rehab.
A 2009 first-round pick, Lawson became the Nuggets’ full-time starting point guard during the 2011/12 season, and averaged 16.4 PPG to go along with 8.0 APG over the next four years. However, Denver sent him to the Rockets last July, and Houston subsequently waived him. Over the course of the 2015/16 season, Lawson appeared in 66 total regular-season games, averaging 5.7 PPG and 3.6 APG in part-time roles for the Rockets and the Pacers, who signed him late in the season.
[RELATED: Sacramento Kings’ depth chart at RosterResource.com]
The Kings had been on the lookout for point guard help this offseason, having lost Rajon Rondo in free agency. Rondo’s departure left Darren Collison as the team’s de facto starter at the point, but Collison is facing domestic violence charges, which could eventually lead to a suspension depending on how the case plays out.
While Sacramento added Garrett Temple in free agency and Isaiah Cousins in the draft, Temple is more of a combo guard than a pure point guard, and Cousins was a late second-rounder who has yet to sign a contract.
The terms of Lawson’s contract aren’t yet known. Sacramento doesn’t have any cap room left, but the team has yet to use its $2.898MM room exception. So the veteran point guard could either get a minimum-salary deal or something slightly larger, if the Kings dip into that room exception.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Kings Were Reportedly Targeting Rubio
The Kings have likely found their starting point guard to begin the season in Ty Lawson, who agreed to a one-year deal with the team earlier this week. Prior to Lawson coming aboard, Sacramento had been close to acquiring a point guard via trade, with the Wolves‘ Ricky Rubio the most likely target, according to Sirius XM NBA Radio host Mitch Lawrence (Audio link). It appears the addition of Lawson has put a halt to any trade talks for Sacramento at this time, Lawrence adds. There has been some speculation that Minnesota’s addition of rookie point guard Kris Dunn would ultimately lead to Rubio being dealt.