Yesterday was a rollercoaster ride. First reports came in that the Kings had offered Iguodala a 4 year, $56 million contract and called the Kings the "frontrunners" to land him. Just a few hours later, the Kings rescinded their offer which had actually been 4 years, $52 million. The belief is that Iguodala and his agent were using Sacramento as leverage to seek a bigger deal, and the Kings front office didn't like being used as leverage for someone who was hesitant upon joining the team anyway.
So where does this leave Sacramento going forward?
1. Tyreke Evans is back on the table
There seemed to be a consensus among the veteran NBA reporters covering the Kings that Sacramento would not bring back Tyreke Evans if the team signed Andre Iguodala. Now however, Evans would seem to be back in play. The Bee's Jason Jones reported earlier this morning that Evans is close to verbally accepting New Orleans' 4 year, $44 million offer. The same article states that Evans had been seeking a 4 year, $48 million offer from Sacramento, but the Kings had put his value somewhere between $8-9 million a year.
Now, if the Kings decide to retain Evans, they can let him sign New Orleans offer sheet on July 10th and then match the offer. Or if they want to part ways anyway, they can try to work out a sign and trade. I don't believe that they'll go higher than New Orleans' offer.
2. The Kings Still Need a Small Forward
Iguodala would have given the Kings their best Small Forward since Ron Artest. With him off the table the Kings will need to look at other options, whether by signing a Free Agent or conducting a Trade. The best available Small Forwards the Kings could potentially target in Free Agency are Josh Smith, Andrei Kirilenko and Dorell Wright. In terms of trades, Rudy Gay or Danny Granger could perhaps be available.
3. Cap Space
I've seen some confusion over the amount of cap space the Kings have.
First off, make sure you're using the salary numbers from ShamSports for accuracy.
Here's what the committed contracts for next season look like right now:
Player | 2013-14 |
John Salmons | $7,583,000 |
Marcus Thornton | $8,050,000 |
Chuck Hayes | $5,722,500 |
Jason Thompson | $5,643,750 |
DeMarcus Cousins | $4,916,974 |
Travis Outlaw | $3,000,000 |
Aaron Brooks* | $674,196 |
Jimmer Fredette | $2,439,840 |
Patrick Patterson | $3,105,302 |
Isaiah Thomas | $884,293 |
Ben McLemore | $2,413,300 |
Total: | $44,433,155 |
*Brooks was bought-out last year but part of his buyout remains on the cap for this season. It cannot be removed.
This does not include the cap holds for James Johnson, Toney Douglas, Cole Aldrich or Tyreke Evans. For our purposes, lets assume Johnson, Douglas and Aldrich are renounced and their cap holds don't count. Evans cap hold is $13,129,563. That would bring the Kings to $57,562,718 with an assumed cap of $58.5 million. So the Kings need to decide what to do with Evans quickly. Should they opt to match New Orleans offer, Evans salary will start somewhere around $10.3 million, as detailed by Tom the other day. That would give the Kings just under $4 million in Cap Space.
The Kings could free up more cap space by letting Tyreke Evans walk (that would give us the $44.4 million from the above table), by signing and trading Evans for cheaper contracts, by trading other players on the team for cheaper contracts, or by using the amnesty clause on John Salmons.
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Sacramento has a lot of options going forward. It's still very early in the offseason, but a lot can happen very quickly. It will be very interesting to see what direction the new front office goes now that their #1 target (Iguodala) is seemingly no longer an option.