Sacramento Kings: Iman Shumpert role next season
By Tyler Watts
With the news that Iman Shumpert is accepting his player option, he figures to play a limited role on the Sacramento Kings next season.
The Sacramento Kings offseason is in full swing. The front office is working hard scouting prospects for the NBA Draft, and free agency decisions are rolling in as well.
The Kings had three veterans with player options heading into the summer. First, Kosta Koufos decided to return to Sacramento. Iman Shumpert has also accepted his player option and will play his first games for the Kings next season. The organization still awaits a decision from Garrett Temple, but you can read more about that here.
With Shumpert locked in for next season, the next logical question is what role does the veteran see with the Kings next season?
Wing depth
Shumpert is a two/three combo wing, but will probably see most of his time with Sacramento at small forward. The Kings have Bogdan Bogdanovic and Buddy Hield primed for 30 minutes plus per night roles next season. They also have Justin Jackson to develop. Those three players alone eat up somewhere between 70 and 80 minutes of the 96 available minutes on the wing. Perhaps, Jackson takes on a smaller role or plays more at the four depending on the personnel around him.
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Temple’s decision matters
Garrett Temple deciding to accept his player option matters to Iman Shumpert as well. Temple played 26.6 minutes per game in his first season in Sacramento and followed that up by seeing 24.8 minutes last season. Those numbers could scale back further next season, but it is unlikely that Temple is not a part of the rotation at all. Temple will see minutes and likely get playing time over Shumpert.
Drafting Doncic would hurt too
If the Kings select Luka Doncic with the second overall pick in the draft, do not expect to see Shumpert in the rotation every game. It would take a wing player missing time to get minutes for Shumpert. Doncic will be ready for a significant role from day one. That would make four players (assuming Temple opts in) primed for substantial minutes ahead of Shumpert. The 27-year-old would be limited to mop-up duty and injury replacement status.
Inconsistent at best
With the draft and free agency still to come, it is impossible to say for certain what role Iman Shumpert will play next season, but do not expect him to be a significant part of the nightly rotation. He will make $11 million and likely be one of the Kings highest paid players, but that won’t earn him minutes on a rebuilding team.
Inconsistent would be the best word to describe his likely role next season. Shumpert will have games where he is a DNP-CD. There will also be instances of him playing over 30 minutes. That is not that uncommon in the NBA especially for a veteran on a team attempting to develop young talent.
Injuries
Health is also a big question surrounding Shumpert. He did not play for the Kings last season after the February trade because of multiple injuries. Shumpert played just 14 games all of last season.
His career high in games is 76, but he has only played over 70 games twice in his seven-year NBA career. Shumpert has only played over 60 games three times, so expecting him to stay healthy all season seems like a stretch.
Final thoughts
Iman Shumpert is a member of the Sacramento Kings next season and figures to play a limited role off the bench. A lot of factors are still yet to come to determine his exact minutes. At this writing, expecting 50 games and around 20 minutes a night seems like the ceiling.
That all goes without mentioning the Kings adding a wing in free agency. Stay tuned this offseason to see how it shakes out.
A Royal Pain has all the offseason content on the Sacramento Kings that diehard fans desire. Check back with us often for all the opinions and analysis on the draft, free agency, and summer league. Our team’s goal is to provide you with everything you need to know before the 2018-2019 season kicks off. Thank you for reading.