Everything you need to know about the Kings heading into the draft and free agency
By Mat Issa
Over the next two months here at A Royal Pain, we intend on providing in-depth coverage on the 2024 NBA Draft and then free agency. It projects to be a riveting time filled with prospect scouting reports, contract discussions, and trade predictions. But before we do that, I figured I should give you a rundown of everything you need to know heading into all of this mayhem.
As of right now, the Sacramento Kings have 12 players under contract and six potential free agents. They are roughly 38.5 million dollars over the salary cap but about 22.9 million dollars under the first tax apron and 33.7 million above the second tax apron (per Spotrac).
Their 2024 exceptions include a Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level (NTML), which is worth about 12.9 million dollars, and a Bi-Annual Exception (BAE), which is worth 4.7 million dollars. As the name suggests, a BAE can only be used once every two years. 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 this in mind, if the Kings re-sign Malik Monk (one of the best combo guards in the sport) to a figure that puts them over the first tax apron, they lose their ability to use their NTML and BAE. That means that they will be limited to veteran minimums and the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception (which is worth about 5.2 million this year).
Along with Monk, other potential free agents that Sacramento may interested in retaining are Alex Len and JaVale McGee.
As far as draft picks go, the Kings have two picks (both their own) in the 2024 NBA Draft – the 13th and 45th overall picks. As the weeks go by, we will discuss some names they might be interested in at those spots.
As we discussed in a recent post, the Kings may be interested in orchestrating a significant trade this offseason. Here are the 2024-25 salaries of some players Sacramento may be looking to move (data provided by Spotrac):
Player Name | 2024-25 Salary (in Millions) |
|---|---|
Harrison Barnes | 18.0 |
Kevin Huerter | 16.8 |
Davion Mitchell | 6.5 |
Chris Duarte | 5.9 |
Now, with that all out of the way, we have the preliminary tools to analyze the Kings offseason moving forward!
(Sidebar: A lot of my research for this post was taken from Keith Smith over at Spotrac. He is the master of all things pertaining to assets and the salary cap and someone you should definitely follow if you don't already.)