Sacramento Kings: Top 3 moves that must happen in free agency
By Justin Fried
2. Sign a worthy player to a max contract
The key word to focus on here is “worthy.” Any team could hand out a max contract to a player — provided they have the cap space — but only the smart ones could give it out to a worthy player.
The Kings must be smart this offseason.
It’s likely that the Kings will go one of two directions with their max contract. They will either use it on a big man to play center allowing budding star Marvin Bagley to play power forward or they’ll use it to sure up the wing with Harrison Barnes opting out of his contract.
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Both Vucevic and Horford would be wise investments of a max contract as even though their age is a bit concerning — particularly Horford’s — they would fill a massive need and hopefully make the Kings legitimate contenders next season.
On the other hand, Barnes is reportedly interested in a max contract and it would be a massive mistake if the Kings were to give it to him. Instead, a small forward option worthy of a max deal would be Philadelphia 76ers star Tobias Harris.
If the Kings give Harris a max contract, that would open up the possibility of bringing in Dedmon at center while they continue to develop Harry Giles as their hopeful big man of the future.
But if they give either Vucevic or Horford the max, Barnes seems like a good candidate to return on a multi-year deal — provided it’s not a max contract.
Either way, the Kings have options, but this is a team in need of some extra star power. You could count on the development of your young players all you want but sometimes free agency is the way to go for top-tier talent.