Sacramento Kings Offseason Outlook: Which Players Should Be Re-Signed?

The Sacramento Kings have several issues surrounding them, from the recent re-structuring of their investment group, to the Maloofs issuing a deadline for an official offer to be submitted to buy the team. The Kings have several players who will be on the trade block as well as players that will need to be re-signed. Players futures have been placed on hold during the drama surrounding inevitable sale of the team.

The Kings have not made an effort to retain the services of Tyreke Evans and have allowed him to become a restricted free agent this offseason.

The Kings’ moves, which left Evans open to receive offers, can be contributed mainly to the lack of commitment from the Kings owners, the Maloofs. The Kings will have several decisions to make with two more restricted frree-agents in Toney Doulas and James Johnson as well as unrestricted free agent Cole Aldrich. The Maloofs have always been known to be very close to the teams decisions regarding trades, player acquisitions and coaching decisions. With their departure, things will certainly get interesting.

The Kings organization will have to wade through the mess of their impending sale before the future of any players can be sorted out, but heres a little preview of possible franchise moves that could help the team grow into a contender.

The Kings would be wise to re-sign Tyreke Evans and examine why his production has decreased since his rookie season. Evans has been plagued by injuries in his first four seasons, but has shown vast amounts of improvement this season showing he still is a very valuable player to the Kings organization.

Evans was once considered to be the potential savior of the Kings organization, but with the combination of both things within and outside Evans control, things haven’t seemed to have led Evans to the superstar status many had hoped he would achieve.However, Evans has shown improvement and continues to show he can be a very good team player.

April 10, 2013; Sacramento, CA, USA; Sacramento Kings point guard Tyreke Evans (13) controls the ball against the New Orleans Hornets during the first quarter at Sleep Train Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

Evans should never have been moved from point guard. He has learned to play without the ball, and still is among the teams leaders in scoring, assists, and field goal percentage. Opposing teams would be hard pressed to match up with Evans size and quickness at point guard. One of the reasons Evans was so effective in his rookie season was because its harder for opposing teams to slow him down at point guard. His ability to get to the rim, and pass the ball helps create open jump shots for his teammates. Evans is also one of the teams best defenders and would be sorely missed if the Kings let him go. Evans is far to talented to let go of without examining all of the possibilities of keeping him.

Evans has gone from 20.2 percent from three point range last year to 33.3 percent this year. Evans field goal percentage has also increased from 45.8 percent his rookie season to 47.8 percent this season. One of Evans’ biggest improvements was his ball control and limiting his turnovers, he averaged 3.23 in his sophmore season and has limited his turnovers to 1.98 this season.

The Kings simply put, should re-sign Evans this offseason, and consider how they can best use him in the future of building the organization. Evans has shown his ability to play small forward and shooting guard, but perhaps making a change to the starting lineup and allowing Evans to play point guard is what the Kings should start to think about.