5 Players the Sacramento Kings could sign if Malik Monk walks in free agency
By Mat Issa
The Sacramento Kings number one priority this offseason is to retain their Sixth Man of the Year runner-up, Malik Monk. But given the way the salary cap works, they can only offer him so much money. So, they need to prepare themselves for a doomsday scenario where Monk walks out the door.
If Monk walks, the Kings need to find a player who can replace his spacing, on-ball scoring, and playmaking. To do so (if they choose to go with the free agency route for replacing him), the Kings have their Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level (worth about 12.9 million dollars this offseason) and Bi-Annual Exception (worth about 4.7 million dollars). Plus, the Kings can also sign as many players to veteran minimums as they please (so long as they have a roster spot for them).
With all this in mind, here are five options the Kings could replace Monk with using the cap assets that are available to them.
Monte Morris
We'll start with Monte Morris since he's included in the thumbnail of this post. This past season was a strange one for the soon-to-be eighth-year guard, as he spent most of the regular season injured (only appeared in 33 games) and then proceeded to ride the pine for a majority of the playoffs (67 total playoff minutes).
Despite all this, Morris does check the three boxes we mentioned earlier. Last year, he was in the 72nd percentile in 3-point percentage (spacing), the 73rd percentile in unassisted field goals (on-ball scoring), and the 76th percentile in assist percentage (playmaking), per Dunks & Threes.
Even with those numbers, he's no Monk (frankly, no one on this list is). But since Morris coming off an unspectacular season, the Kings can probably get him at a discounted rate and use the spare coin to address other needs.