After a strong run with the Stockton Kings in the 2022-23 season and a strong showing for the Kings Summer League squad in 2023, Sacramento signed Jordan Ford to a two-way contract last fall. The former Folsom High Bulldog appeared in just 6 games (and 22 total minutes) for the parent club, and ended up spending most of the 2023-24 season playing in Stockton, averaging 15.5 points and 4.2 assists on 49% shooting and 43% from deep in the G League regular season. Unfortunately, a hip injury kept Ford on the bench for the end of the G League season, where Stockton lost to the Oklahoma City Blue in the Western Conference Finals.
While Ford’s deep shooting ability makes him a logical fit for Sacramento as a reserve guard—he technically led the Kings in 3 point success (66.7% on 2/3 from deep on the season)—he only got on the floor for a handful of minutes in November and December, and Mike Brown went with the rest of the rotation to handle the guard minutes. Between Davion Mitchell, Keon Ellis, Chris Duarte, and Colby Jones, the Kings didn’t have the most season-long consistency from their reserve guards, but all (sans Duarte, but Brown clearly disagrees with me) made their case for more minutes ahead of Ford.
Ford’s future with his hometown squad is logically unclear. He seems an ideal guard to lead their G League squad, but the Sacramento Kings always had others higher up the depth chart. In addition to their 13th overall pick, the Kings also have the 45th pick in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft, and Monte McNair showed last summer that he’d prioritize selecting a 2nd round prospect (Jalen Slawson) who was willing to sign to a two-way contract over others who wanted guaranteed roster spots. We’ll have to see if the Kings have interest in bringing Ford back this summer.
Discussing Ford is a non-starter for me.
fan favorite after summer league but last to be added.
Meh.
yeah, he was a non-factor.
Is Fox the only player left to be reviewed?
Don’t think we’ve gotten Duarte yet.
Season Review: Chris Duarte
Fouled a lot, non-shooter, had moments of competence that were few and far between. Solid effort and hustle.
There, article done. Get on to Fox so the comments section can break the site.
I have seen this guy play for years before he appeared on the G league roster. He isn’t going to push past the G league.
Why doesn’t local guy get the beyond realistic fan boy support the other G Leaguers get?
Wasn’t Ellis the only one that was more widely supported? I guess some people thought Queta was going to be good, and he ended up not being good with Boston.
Why not support the local guy?
What G-leaguer gets beyond realistic fanboy support?
Any of the G leaguers that sniffs the NBA roster in Sacramento.
Any G leaguer that ends up with a two way deal.
This franchise has successfully sold its fans on potential in lieu of an actual NBA roster. Wait until the summer league starts. There is going to be at least ten new saviors.
What is the primary role of G-League management and coaching?
Is it to build and coach a squad to a G-League title or is it to develop talent and schemes for the parent club?
I ask, because I’m not sure you can do both. To me, top G-league talent isn’t always NBA talent. If it were the same wouldn’t the G-League MVP be a lock for an NBA rotational spot, or at minimum on a 2-way deal?
To boil it down, I’m just not sure what the point of 2-way deals are other than to have extra live bodies on the cheap. They are roughly half the price of a rookie minimum deal, they can’t play in the playoffs, and they can’t be NBA veterans.
But it’s possible to have a primary and a secondary role or goal, no?
It’s not that these two things are mutually exclusive. If a player can’t contribute in the G-league I don’t see him getting minutes in the NBA.
I’m just unclear of the purpose of some of the rules. For instance, the Stockton Kings can sign guys like Skal and Stanley Johnson, for the purpose of winning in the G-Leauge, but the Sacramento Kings can’t sign those players to 2-way deals. They also can’t give those guys 10-day deals until much later in the season.
So if you are the manager and/or coach of a G-League team, are you going to play ex-NBA players who help you win, or non-NBA players who are on the parent’s club 2-way deal? I’d imagine there are enough times when those two situations don’t run parallel.
Maybe the better question is, is the G-League a farm team for the the pros, or just an autonomous minor league.
I think it would be a fascinating wrinkle if the parent club owned the exclusive rights to each player on their G-League team and could call them up for “two-way stints” on an as needed basis. Maybe they could also send a struggling rostered member down for a week or two to get in minutes and their rhythm back.
I remember Skal being sent to Reno occasionally during his tenure with the Kings, and Kessler Edwards played a single game with Stockton in March of this last season.
IIRC, any player with 3 or less years can be sent to the G-League for assignment, but any player with more than 3 years needs to give approval, and that rarely happens.
Sounds like the structure of the MLB minor league system. Top talent will rise and make it to the show, others are fringe big leaguers that split time in the majors and minors, and some are career minor leaguers that are needed to put out a winning product.
I think it should be like a AAA team in baseball. Players can go back and forth. Use it to work on parts of their game or recover from an injury. The G league used that way would have been great for a guy like Giles.
G League teams can have different goals, but I think being competitive and developing talent go hand in hand, to an extent. If the entire team is full of long-shot development projects, it’s hard for any of them to develop. Ideally, in my mind, there should be a mix of NBA veterans to teach young guys the ropes along with the young guys you’re developing. Some teams care more about winning in the G League than others. Based on what we’ve seen in Stockton, they’ve definitely brought in players that suggest they care about winning games in the G League, which I don’t think should be the top goal of the G League but to each their own.
But the purpose of a Two-Way contract is to have the flexibility for a couple extra long shots. They get to practice with Sacramento, learn the concepts from the Sacramento coaches, and then they can go down to Stockton and get actual playing time that they wouldn’t get in Sacramento. They have an opportunity to apply what they’re learning and continue to develop. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.
For a guy like Ford, I think it was used more as a reward. He played well for Stockton, was useful to have in Summer League (we know how important it is to have a competent PG on a summer or G League squad), so to get him to stick around he gets a Two-Way and gets paid more.
This is a very funny line that was on X/Twiiter
https://x.com/Kofie/status/1793099696489247147
(It says:
Good guy but getting mminutes past Ellis and
Mitchell? Not very likely.
Along the lines of what Greg said, keeping a competent point guard on the G league team is a good use of a 2 way guaranteed contract. I just hope it bears more fruit from guys like Jones & Slawson (don’t have a lot of confidence there).
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