A Royal Pain
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Sacramento Kings Sign Marshall Henderson To Camp Deal

By Ti Windisch

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Well, it looks like Vlade Divac and the Sacramento Kings sure aren’t afraid of fielding any more critics this offseason. In a very unexpected move, the Kings have signed former Ole Miss standout Marshall Henderson to a training camp deal.

Trying to remember why you recognize that name? It’s most likely because he recently made a bit of noise on Twitter over his homophobic comments regarding Michael Sam. Essentially, Henderson sent a few homophobic tweets and then claimed his comments were part of a social experiment.

That’s about it for recent Henderson news on the internet, aside from a ton of stories about the Kings signing him (I was kinda late on this one, apparently) and his dumb pretty Twitter “beef” with Erin Andrews. Henderson’s moves on Twitter have made more noise lately than his actual play, which is never a good sign.

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When he did play, Henderson was as known for his quality three-point shooting and general scoring talent as he was for being brash and indulging in too much trash talk for good taste’s sake. It appears that although he’s been playing overseas and not in the bright US spotlight, the personality continues to outshine the talent.

As for what Henderson has been up to since his breakout season at Ole Miss, this Marc Spears article seems to cover most of the high points between then and now. It’s almost sixth months outdated, so the Kings actually signing Henderson isn’t on there–although it was mentioned in the article that the Kings inquired about him.

I do feel for Henderson, who seemed to have a promising career as a professional basketball player before his troubles with drugs and alcohol derailed his shot at being drafted. He has put in the work and played professional basketball since, so maybe he’s ready to take full advantage of this second chance.

He’s apparently in the best mental state he’s been in for years, and played well enough to merit an MVP award in Qatar. As good as it is to see him playing basketball again, quite obviously Qatar basketball is a whole lot different from the NBA.

But clearly Divac and the Kings scouting department sees something in Henderson to merit bringing him to camp. And it’s not like Sacramento really has much to lose–he’s not guaranteed any money, so outside of a little bad press (like that’s new to this organization) there’s no repercussions for the Kings here.

Will Marshall Henderson actually make the Sacramento Kings roster? I highly doubt it, considering the Kings already have guards Seth Curry, David Stockton, Marco Belinelli, Darren Collison, Ben McLemore and Rajon Rondo on the roster.

But he might make the D-League team, which would at least give Reno a fun storyline this season. While also giving a kid who’s fought like crazy a second chance at making a living playing basketball, which is cool.

As far as how Henderson will do in camp? I think that Spears article from earlier ended with a quote from Marshall Henderson that’ll work well to wrap this piece up, too:

“You can’t really say much until you’re in that situation. So we’ll see.”

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