Sacramento Kings: Breaking down the Tyler Lydon signing

The Sacramento Kings have signed former Syracuse star Tyler Lydon to bolster their frontcourt depth. Here is a breakdown of the mid-July signing.

The Sacramento Kings used some of their remaining cap space to sign former first-round pick Tyler Lydon to a two-year, partially guaranteed contract. Lydon is expected to join a frontcourt rotation that all of a sudden looks pretty crowded.

The Kings signed veteran Dewayne Dedmon in the offseason to help upgrade at the center position. After four seasons of Willie Cauley-Stein at center, Sacramento ultimately decided his inconsistencies were too detrimental and they let him walk in free agency.

Dedmon should step in alongside second-year pro Marvin Bagley who’s expected to take on a much bigger role this season after spending most of his rookie campaign coming off the bench. But aside from the addition of Dedmon, the Kings frontcourt has remained relatively the same.

The only other signing that was made was the move for former Phoenix Suns power forward Richaun Holmes. Now with the signing of Lydon, the Kings now roster six big men that could feasibly play in their rotation.

But that’s going to require more from Lydon than we’ve seen in his NBA career.

Lydon was a standout during his time at Syracuse averaging 13.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks in 36.1 minutes per game in his sophomore season. His numbers were enough to get him drafted 24th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz.

His draft rights were immediately traded to the Denver Nuggets in a package deal for Donovan Mitchell — a move Denver likely regrets. Unfortunately, Lydon was never able to do much during his time with the Nuggets.

More from Sacramento Kings

• Sacramento Kings: Re-grading the team’s 2019 free-agent signings
• Sacramento Kings: Why Fans should be excited about new GM Monte McNair
• Sacramento Kings: Introducing the Harry Giles conundrum
• Sacramento Kings could land the steal of the 2020 NBA Draft in Elijah Hughes
• Sacramento Kings can afford to re-sign Bogdan Bogdanovic

The 23-year-old spent the majority of his rookie campaign playing in the G-League before being recalled to play in one game in November. Lydon would play just two minutes with no recorded stats before heading back to the G-League where he would injure his knee in January and miss the rest of the season.

His sophomore NBA season was only slightly better as he played in 25 games with the big-league club but still averaged just 3.8 minutes per game playing almost exclusively in garbage time. Still, there are reasons as to why the Kings were interested.

Lydon’s game perfectly fits what the Kings are looking to do on offense. His outside shooting ability — he shot 40% from three-point range in college — will give the team better spacing opportunities on offense, something they’ve put a premium on this offseason.

More from Golden Gate Sports

• Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 3 performance
• 49ers sign new long snapper amidst a flurry of roster moves
• Oakland Athletics win Game 2 of Wild Card round with late-inning drama
• 49ers: George Kittle and Deebo Samuel cleared to return to practice
• 49ers expected to place DE Dee Ford on injured reserve

One intriguing possibility could be to play him at small forward — a position he worked on a bit while with Denver. At 6-foot-10, Lydon is on the taller side for a wing but he has the athleticism and mobility to make it work.

If anything, Lydon should be able to able to stand out among some of the other big men on the roster. Holmes doesn’t have a particularly strong three-point pedigree and both Bagley and fellow young big Harry Giles are still developing their outside shot — with the latter lacking any semblance of one.

The Kings have been in search of players with solid outside games to help space the floor on offense. They seem to have found just that in Lydon.

Now the only question remains how much playing time he will receive in a suddenly deep rotation.