On Wednesday, our flagship website released its top 99 rankings for the 2024-25 NBA season. Linkedhere, the list is both visually appealing and well-thought-out. While no list like this can ever be perfect, this one does a great job of recognizing hidden gems and rising stars, and everyone should check it out.
Anyway, outside of the ranking of De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, one part of the rankings that caught our eye was the placement of the team's starting point guard, Malik Monk.
Malik Monk's extension is a bargain for the Kings
On the list, Monk is ranked 76th between CJ McCollum (75) and Michael Porter Jr. (77). This serves as further evidence that the Kings made the right move signing him to a four-year, 78-million dollar extension (something we didn't always believe).
This offseason, Monk surprised a lot of people by agreeing to an extension with the Kings a few weeks earlier than he had to for a few million dollars less than people expected him to get from another team.
Even after agreeing to a discount to stay in the city that had embraced him as one of their own, we still thought the Monk signing would backfire on the Kings – calling it one of the three worst contracts on the team heading into the 2024-25 season.
However, by leveling up his game, Monk has made himself more than worthy of his big payday, and this player ranking is further proof of it.
Monk was ranked the 76th-best player in the league. However, according to Spotrac, Monk's 17.4 million dollar cap hit this season is only the 97th-highest in the NBA. The 76th-highest-paid player, Cameron Johnson, is making 22.5 million dollars this year. So, by that measure, the Kings are getting Monk for a few million dollars less than he is worth relative to the market he is in.
In a season filled with highs and lows, the Kings can take solace in the fact that they hit a home run with the offseason extension they agreed to with Monk.