Kings Sign Antoine Wright
By Bryan Rose
As first broken yesterday by Dallas’ own Tim Cowlishaw and then confirmed by Sactown Royalty, the Sacramento Kings have indeed signed former Net, Maverick, and Raptor small forward Antoine Wright to a one year contract. The move all but ends the short Ime Udoka era in purple and black.
Wright was the 15th selection in the 2005 draft by the Nets and departed Texas A&M as the 10th leading scorer in school history despite leaving after his Junior season. Unfortunately, his collegiate success hasn’t translated as well into the NBA as he’ll be playing for his third team in three seasons and his fourth overall.
He’s certainly not the marksmen most King fans were hoping for, but he is a solid (and at some points, even better than that…) defender. And when given ample floor time, he’s been prone to some very solid offensive outbursts.
My feelings on the deal? Meh. It’s not what the Kings were in need of, but, they needed to replace Ime as it seems he wasn’t returning. They also needed to add salary to meet the minimum requirements and needed another body on the roster. Wright fits all of those needs and he’s a decent defender. It’s maybe not what we were hoping for right now, but, it gets the job done. And on a one year contract, you can’t really complain too much.
I don’t think the Sacramento Team Store needs to worry about stocking too many Wright jerseys though.