While it’s been Buddy Hield’s contract extension talks that have been dominating the local headlines, it’s a different Kings shooting guard that has actually been offered one. The Sacramento Bee reports that the Kings have offered 3rd year swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic a 4 year, $51.4 million extension, the maximum they can offer him at this point.

Per the Bee, Bogdan doesn’t seem to be in any rush to accept the deal, and it’s easy to see why. While 4 years and $51.4 million is nothing to sneeze at, that’s a deal that would likely be considered a bargain for a player of Bogdanovic’s talents. Because Bogdanovic did not sign a rookie scale deal (which is why he waited a few years before coming to the NBA), his extension is based off his current salary. If he waits until next Summer to become a Restricted Free Agent, he could negotiate with the Kings (or any other team) for even more money than he is being offered now.

Bogdan also isn’t under the same time crunch that Buddy Hield is in. While Hield and the Kings would have to work something out by Oct. 21st, Bogdan can wait all the way until June 30th, 2020 before deciding to take the Kings offer. Given these circumstances, it would be quite imprudent for Bogdan to take the offer now without seeing how the season goes and what the market might be like next summer.

With restricted free agency, the Kings will have the right to match any offer that Bogdan gets. However there’s also the very real chance that he might play himself out of the team’s price range. Given that the Kings are looking at big deals over the next few summers for Buddy Hield, De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley III, an ambitious team could structure a contract that might be painful for Sacramento to match. Still, it would be more painful for the Kings to lose a player of Bogdanovic’s quality for nothing as well.

It’s been a while since the Kings have had to worry about spending on young players (DeMarcus Cousins and Jason Thompson have been the only Kings draft picks in the last 13 years to be re-signed or extended after their rookie deal) but that time has come. Fortunately the Kings have kept themselves pretty financially flexible in preparation for this scenario.