Taking A Look At The Sacramento Kings Cap Situation In 2016

Rajon Rondo was pretty obviously the Sacramento Kings’ biggest signing in the 2015 offseason. The controversial point guard is expected to spark a revamped Kings’ roster to a winning season for the first time in a long time, and will have plenty of shooters to help him.

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But now that the first summer under Vlade Divac is over, I want to take a quick look forward–to the summer of 2016, to be precise. There will be a lot of teams with cap room and a lot of players available next offseason due to the salary cap expected to shoot up once more, and Sacramento is no exception.

Right now estimates have the cap at nearly $90 million for that offseason, wayyy up (the NBA players surely feel blessed) from the $67.1 million in salary organizations had to play with this offseason. Now let’s see how much the Kings in specific will be able to throw around next year.

The franchises’ two best players–DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay–are both already under contract for that season. Actually, nearly every player on Sacramento’s roster is locked down for the 2016-17 season already. Just David Stockton and Rajon Rondo will hit free agency after this year.

Although that doesn’t mean the other twelve Kings will remain on the team. James Anderson, Quincy Acy, Seth Curry and Caron Butler all have player options, so they’ll decide if they wish to return or not for the 2017 NBA campaign.

It’s tough to tell which of those players are likely to refuse the contract season–if a player has a great season and has an option for a very small contract for the next season (as all four of those players do) then they might decline the option to make more money, either with the Kings or another team.

Curry would be my most likely call to decline the option, along with Butler if he decides on retiring or doesn’t find himself in a great role with Sacramento (although I believe he will). Acy and Anderson aren’t likely to find themselves in great contract situations so they might opt for the safe money with Sacramento, but you never know what could happen.

But with all of those contracts assumed on the books and assuming Rondo and Stockton aren’t maintained on the Kings, that brings the total team salary up to somewhere around $60.8 million (the roughly $50 million listed on the HoopsHype page I linked earlier along with $6.3 million per year for Marco Belinelli, $1.5 million for Butler and $3 million for Omri Casspi).

If you’re not a math genius, the difference between $89 million and $60.8 million is just under $28 million. That’s a whole lot of room, more than enough for the Kings to snag a premium free agent should they wish to sign in Sacramento. DeMar DeRozan, Mike Conley, Sacramento’s own Rajon Rondo and of course superstar Kevin Durant will all be hitting the market, and even before working to make extra cap space (which is always an option) Sacramento will have the room to be a player in free agency.

But only if the Kings have a good season. It’s ~~hard~~ impossible to attract top-tier free agents to a losing team. Even the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks were unable to get great free agents–just Lou Williams and Robin Lopez, respectively. That’s the situation the Kings found themselves in this offseason–losing Wesley Matthews to Dallas and ending up with just Belinelli and Rondo.

Those aren’t bad players, but they’re certainly not Greg Monroe-level talent. Monroe, a young player just entering his prime who’s already proven to be an established low-post threat at 24 years old, must’ve went to a large market or an established title contender, right?

Nope. He went to Milwaukee, who lost in the first round last season and won just 15 games the year before that. Milwaukee didn’t overpay for Monroe–he was offered the same max deal from those Knicks, but chose Milwaukee. Because the Bucks showed the potential to be a team on the upswing.

The Kings have that same opportunity this season. I’m not saying a 41 win season–what those Milwaukee Bucks managed last season–will make Kevin Durant come to Sacramento. But adding a third great player to the Rudy Gay/DeMarcus Cousins duo could make these Kings a legitimate top team in the West.

Adding a younger player with upside like Mike Conley or DeMar Derozan could make that happen. Although Darren Collison and Ben McLemore are good players (especially McLemore, who I believe has a ton of potential) they’re just a tier below guys like Conley and DeRozan.

Sacramento’s own Big 3 would change the landscape of Kings basketball for years to come. I think that Vlade Divac is aware of this, and it’s gone into all of his moves this season. All of his signings except Rondo (and maybe Koufos) have been good bench players for multiple seasons, and none of them are both long-term and expensive.

If these Kings put on a good show and sneak into the playoffs, or even manage to win 40 games, they might have the momentum to form a pitch strong enough to lure a DeRozan or Conley to Sacramento. That player will already have a strong bench around him, Rondo’s pricey deal will be all of the books, and Gay and Cousins will be there for at least the next season as well.

This roster isn’t set to take down the Western Conference juggernauts this season, but it is set with a perfect star-shaped gap to make a serious run next year. This season will be the biggest in the history of the Sacramento Kings–if it’s another failure, the Kings will have wasted another season of Boogie’s talent and probably lose Rajon Rondo.

Back to square one, as they say.

But if these Kings pull off a successful campaign, it could very well set the groundwork for Cousins and company someday making the playoffs, or even winning a championship. Get on the bandwagon right now Kings’ fans–it’s going to be an intense ride from here on out.

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