It looks like my Sacramento Kings free agency piece was premature, as Vlade Divac clearly isn’t done making moves yet! Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reported Friday that the Kings have added veteran forward Caron Butler on a two-year deal that reportedly has a player option on the second year.
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The 13 year NBA veteran will bring valuable experience and leadership to a mostly very young Kings team. Butler is an ideal bench forward to pair with Omri Casspi, considering he’s managed to shoot 35 percent from three-point territory over the course of his career. Casspi is also around that mark, meaning both players are long-range threats that should help space the floor.
Sacramento will be Butler’s ninth team, as he has played the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons, and the Dallas Mavericks, where Butler won his only ring (so far) in the Mavs’ 2011 title run.
One important aspect of the Caron Butler signing is that it likely means that Josh Smith will not be joining the Kings anytime soon. Casspi and Butler are both capable backup forwards, and it seems like there is no more need to add Smith and his chucking ways to Sacramento at this point. As I wrote in the piece linked there, that’s probably a good thing.
Butler knows that his best basketball is behind him and that he will be coming in in relief, and not a starting role. He should be a great guy for younger players like Casspi to learn from, as anybody who’s stayed in the association for 13 years and got two All-Star nods probably knows a thing or two about preparation and having the right mentality, and his veteran leadership can be invaluable to a growing team like the Kings.
Caron Butler's deal w/Kings is two years, $3 million w/player option on second year, per person with info on deal. @WojYahooNBA first w/news
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) July 10, 2015
Overall I think this is a great signing, and that Vlade Divac continues to impress us all with his savvy moves. This is a very cheap deal for the Kings, meaning that again Divac has shown he is well aware the flashy moves aren’t always the best ones.
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