Should the Sacramento Kings target Nikola Vucevic?

There’s been a lot of talk about Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic joining the Sacramento Kings, but should they dole out max money for him?

The Sacramento Kings aren’t known for attracting marquee free agents, but that could change if they’re able to court Orlando Magic center Nikola Vucevic, but would he be worth it?

Vucevic, is coming off a career year that resulted in an All-Star selection after he averaged 20.8 points, 12 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.1 steals and one block. He also posted a player impact plus-minus of plus-4.26 (17th in NBA), a box plus-minus of plus-6.4 and had a true shooting percentage of 57.3%. In short: he was phenomenal this year.

The problem, however, lies in his potential asking price. Center is generally not the position you want to throw max-level money at, but for a player of Vucevic’s caliber it may be worth it.

As of now, the Sacramento Kings have nearly $40 million in cap space with numerous holes to fill. That number is likely to rise should the team release Frank Mason III and Yogi Ferrell — two expected outcomes — and will rise even further should the Kings extend Harrison Barnes to a contract with a lower annual salary than his current $23.6 million. Signing Vucevic would cost roughly $32 million per season, which — if all the aforementioned scenarios take place — would leave the Kings with about $10-14 million in cap space, depending on how much the team re-signs Barnes for.

If the team believes they can get the necessary upgrades for about $15 million total (counting the $4 million room exception) then maybe pursuing the Magic’s All-Star center is worth it — especially if they can sign him for slightly below the max at around $30 million per season.

Even at the max, it might be worth it for the Sacramento Kings.

Nikola Vucevic, on his own, would fill a lot of holes for the Kings and would be a massive upgrade over Willie Cauley-Stein, Kosta Koufas and Harry Giles III at the five. He’s a plus-shooter from deep for a center (36.4% 3PT% this year), an elite rebounder (28.6% Defensive Rebounding Percentage) and a plus-defender at the rim (held opponents 7.5% below their average at the rim).

If you decide he’s worth the price, there’s still the question of whether he’ll impact the development of Marvin Bagley III and Giles. Bagley could be trotted out as a four (where he spent most of his time his rookie year), but Giles would be semi-permanently relegated to a backup role. On its own that’s not necessarily a problem, but if the Sacramento Kings view Giles as a future star, that could complicate things. Though, at 21-years-old, Giles would be entering his prime when Vucevic’s theoretical contract comes off the books.

One positive, the Sacramento Kings wouldn’t have much competition to sign Nikola Vucevic. There aren’t many NBA teams with cap space for a max contract and even fewer who would be willing to spend it on a center. If the Kings pursue Vucevic (and it seems like they will), they might stand the best chance of signing him.

If the Sacramento Kings do sign him though, the question people should ask isn’t whether or not he’s worth it — it’s whether or not he makes them a playoff team. If he does, then he’s worth whatever he gets.