Why losing out on Zach LaVine will end up being a blessing in disguise for the Sacramento Kings
The Chicago Bulls matched the Sacramento Kings’ offer on restricted free agent Zach LaVine for four years, $78 million. Though Sacramento may have had genuine interest in LaVine’s scoring and slashing services, Chicago bailed them out, saving them from a potentially disastrous mistake.
The young Kings were nearly robbed of their opportunity for proper development, as they possess quite a few position-less players who could benefit from ample playing time. Duke rookies Marvin Bagley and Harry Giles seek to benefit, in addition to second-year studs De’Aaron Fox, Justin Jackson, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Frank Mason.
Adding a big money player like LaVine is the type of move that can handicap a coach, in trying to play the best players available and not just the ones that are paid like it. You can’t pay LaVine that type of money, only to sit him for a player that is earning pennies on the dollar (in comparison) that may or may not be better.
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In regards to their financial situation, the Kings have maintained the ability to be major players in free agency after the season, as they are set to have close to $84 million in cap room.
The combined contracts of Zach Randolph, Kosta Koufos, Iman Shumpert and Garrett Temple will expire, freeing up a total of $39.4M in extra room, allowing them to make a run at one of several high profile free agents set to hit the market in 2019.
The free agent market should already be attractive enough, but could get a little more interesting as several high key stars can opt out of their current deals, including Jimmy Butler, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Love, Kyrie Irving and Al Horford.
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LaVine, even disregarding his lengthy injury history, might not be worth the hefty price tag. The 23-year-old UCLA product flashed major upside with Minnesota in 2016-17 season scoring 18.9 ppg, converting on nearly 46 percent of his shots, but his durability issues have limited him to 71 total games played over the last two years.