The Sacramento Kings won’t get a do-over on disappointing offseason signings

Heading into the 2019 offseason, the Sacramento Kings had an exciting young roster coming off of a 39-win season and nearly $40 million in cap space to spend in free agency.

The team used every dime in an attempt to find the right veteran pieces to put around the core, hoping the new signings would push Sacramento to its first playoff appearance since 2006.

But the Kings, now 17-29, appear to be going backwards. This season is close to becoming an all-out failure.

While there is plenty of blame to go around, one issue that stands out is how little production the Kings have managed to get from the players they signed using all that cap space.

Trevor Ariza was given a two-year deal worth $25 million. He proved to be a disappointment and was traded for minor assets halfway into his first season.

Dewayne Dedmon signed a three-year deal for $40 million. He lost his starting job after just four games and has played sparingly ever since.

Dedmon is still on the roster, but it’s no secret he wants to follow in Ariza’s footsteps out of town. League sources recently told The Bee’s Jason Anderson that reconciliation between the team and Dedmon is possible, but it’s hard to know the reason for that coming out.

Finally, Cory Joseph agreed to a three-year deal worth $37.2 million. He has easily been the most successful signing of the three, but even Joseph hasn’t been the catalyst for improvement that many fans were hoping for.

That’s a total of over $100 million in contract agreements, about two-thirds of which came in the form of guaranteed salary. It doesn’t feel like Sacramento has gotten its money’s worth.

FUTURE CAP SPACE

Mistakes have been made and Sacramento Kings fans are surely wishing free agency had gone differently. Some may even be looking toward the future for a chance to do things better, a chance to get it right.

But the reality is that there will be no do-overs for this version of the Kings. Sacramento does not project to have any significant cap space for years to come, unless the current core is broken up.

Buddy Hield’s contract extension kicks in next season, giving him a raise of $21.5 million. Bogdan Bogdanovic will need a new contract, which is likely to come with a hefty raise of its own. Joseph, Marvin Bagley III, De’Aaron Fox, Richaun Holmes and Justin James also have slight raises built into their contracts for next season.

The following year will require an extension for Fox, potentially even a maximum contract. The season after that will necessitate a new deal for Bagley. That contract could be very expensive as well if Bagley grows and develops in the way that the Sacramento hopes he does.

Add it all up and the Kings are looking at three and a half more seasons without being able to spend much on free agents.

MINOR FLEXIBILITY REMAINS

Sacramento’s ability to add talent to its roster is limited to draft picks, trades and inexpensive free agent signings using cap space exceptions.

In defense of the Kings, they did manage to nail the latter over the summer by getting the most out of a midlevel exception with Richaun Holmes.

Holmes signed to a two-year deal worth $9.8 million. He has been an overwhelming success. Holmes has been one of the best players on the team, averaging 13.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.

If Sacramento can replicate those results using the standard midlevel exception each year, maybe everything will be fine. But that’s not likely. Holmes feels like a diamond in the rough at that price.

And when it comes to picks, Kings fans know all too well that not every selection will be a success. For every De’Aaron Fox, there seems to be a Georgios Papagiannis to balance things out. A flawless stretch of draft picks would solve a lot of problems, but that is more of a dream than it is a reality.

That’s it. Those are the only ways forward. The Kings must either nail their picks and minor signings, break up their roster with trades, or watch the league’s longest playoff drought continue to drone on in Sacramento.

It’s a difficult position to be in, especially when so much financial flexibility was there just this past summer. Last summer was the last chance for this version of the Kings to take a step forward by using cap space. And as of right now, it looks like they blew it.

This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 4:00 AM.