Sacramento Kings: Did Jason Terry Disrespect The Kings?

Jason Terry has become a Sacramento King with the trade that sent Marcus Thornton to the Brooklyn Nets. The Kings also received rebounding specialist Reggie Evans. Since the trade there were a ton of rumors speculating that Jason Terry was not pleased about the trade, as he did not want to be a part of a rebuilding team. Coach Michael Malone was also quoted, post trade, that he doesn’t even think that Jason Terry could see time on the floor.

The Sacramento Kings have decided to let Jason Terry rest and rehab the rest of the season in Dallas, but one could speculate that this is just to let Malone see what his younger guys like Ray McCallum and Ben McLemore can do on the floor when given minutes. This could just be a move to also wait until the offseason and see if they can move Terry and see what they can get in his return. With all the reports that came out about this deal and the rumor that Terry did not want to play for Sacramento; was he disrespecting the Kings?

If you are looking at it as a player that doesn’t want to play for a team–which is basically what this is–then yes, Jason Terry did disrespect the Kings. However, this guy is also in his mid-30s and is on the final stretch of his career. Jason Terry is a former NBA champion and does not want to finish his career with a team that is still looking to build and become a contender just to sneak into the playoffs. The deal that was made to bring Jason to Sacramento was also a deal just to dump Marcus Thornton’s contract.

The Kings undoubtedly need to have veterans on their team and it would have been nice to see the man who is called “The Jet” come in, in his sixth man role, and be that veteran to help this Kings franchise start turning around. Jason Terry has earned the right to choose where he would like to see his career end. He has paid his dues in the league and was a part of the Dallas team that took down the Miami Heat’s trio of superstars in their first year together.

Back to the original question; did Jason Terry disrespect the Kings? The answer is yes, but the bigger picture shows why you could understand the reasoning behind Jason Terry’s mindset of not wanting to be a part of a rebuilding franchise.  Jason Terry still has one more year left on his contract and it will be interesting to see what will happen this offseason. Will the Kings try to move him or keep him for 2014-15?