How Are The Kings Gonna Spend All That Money?

As Bryan pointed out, the Kings have a ton of money that they need to spend, roughly about $18 million to get to the minimum allowable for an NBA roster. How the heck are they gonna do it? Hmmm….

Offer Marc Gasol a 2-year deal at $12-15M per season

Sounds high, doesn’t it? With Gasol being a restricted free agent, Memphis can match any offer. But the Grizz — thanks to lucrative extensions to Rudy Gay, Z-Bo and Mike Conley — sit at about $55 million, just under the $58 million projected cap. Memphis’ owner says he will match any offer to Gasol, so why not test him? If Gasol ends up in Sac, the Kings get a blossoming young center for two years whose contract expires before they’d have to extend Tyreke or DMC. Gasol gets a high-value deal and hits free agency again as a 28-year-old. If the Grizzlies match, we’re no worse for wear. Gasol seems like a team-guy and I think he’d work well with DMC.

Explore the Samuel Dalembert option

Not my preferred method. According to Sam Amick, Sammy D has not shut the door on the Kings, and as Amick also said, it’s likely because he knows they have a pile of cash to throw around. I have long said that giving Dalembert a long-term deal scares me because I don’t think he’d live up to it. But a 2-3 year deal at $7-8M per season could be a decent fallback option. Coupled with a re-signed Marcus Thornton and another vet, and we’d hit the minimum.

Take a big contract back in a trade while picking up other assets

Teams at the salary cap limit will be calling the Kings, knowing they can take on a nasty deal. In return for the services, Sac could be able to land a young asset or draft picks. Guys like Mehmet Okur from Utah, or to a lesser cap hit, OJ Mayo from Memphis or Mikael Pietrus from Phoenix, have expiring deals that may need to be moved to help a team’s financial situation. We swoop on one of those, add some future picks and inch closer to hitting minimum.

Take care of our own business and don’t spend

Another tidbit gleaned from Sam Amick: If a team doesn’t spend the money up to the minimum 85 percent of the cap, the difference is paid out to the other players on the roster. Instead of forcing ourselves to spend money on what could be bad deals, we could re-sign Thornton, sign our rookies, add a vet or two (Earl Watson as our 4th guard?), and pay the rest out to current players. Maybe not the best use of the space, but an option nonetheless.

The best part of it all is that everything will be happening so fast. Get ready.