The Sacramento Kings are going to waive DaQuan Jeffries, according to a report from James Ham and confirmed by multiple other reporters.
According to league source, the Kings are expected to waive DaQuan Jeffries.
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) April 3, 2021
DaQuan Jeffries has been released by the Kings tonight, according to sources…
@James_HamNBCS first.— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) April 3, 2021
To call this move surprising would be an understatement.
To be clear, Jeffries has fallen out of the Kings rotation, and his stay line this year doesn’t jump off the page. In 17 games this season Jeffries has averaged just 3.6 points and 1.6 rebounds per game.
What makes this surprising is that Jeffries has appeared to be a positive impact player when on the floor. He’s a scrappy defender who can play multiple positions, and is on a team-friendly contract through next season. Jeffries signed a two year, $3 million contract with the Kings this past summer.
It’s unclear why the Kings made this move, but the most logical assumption is that Jeffries no longer wanted to be in Sacramento. If the Kings wanted another player, the team would have multiple other avenues to create a roster spot.
We will continue to update as we learn more.
Update: Jason Anderson reports Jeffries was waived to bring in another player.
Sources tell me the Kings expect to bring in another player, but details are still being worked out. Jeffries was in the first year of a two-year, $3 million deal with a team option for next season. https://t.co/wLKxSaJCZT
— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) April 3, 2021
This makes the move even more confusing, as the Kings had several other player they could have waived, such as Justin James or Chris Silva.
So much better than Justin James.
oh well. More value buys forthcoming?
This is weird enough that I’ll wait to find out more details. But it is definitely one of those things that makes you feel like the Kings are a fucking joke.
Justin James must possess “THE PHOTOS”
Jeffries could end up being nothing, but Justin James has already proven he’s nothing. Ridiculous.
The only thing James excels at is cheerleading.
I hope he gets picked up by another rebuilding team. Maybe they’ll find time for him.
Yeah, something’s going on with him. He was in the rotation for a while once he came back, then he disappeared. Then played a little until the trades were made and he now had several people ahead of him. Dunno why he went through that period of not getting played.
I’m going to give this a week or two before freaking out. I think his agent probably found another team willing to give him a bigger role. This is probably as a favor to him and they’ll probably try to plug his spot with some size.
In
Pete D’VladeMonte we trust!Vlonte McDivac
I’m not going to get too worked up about an out of the rotation player for a lottery team. I wish Jeffries well in his future endeavors.
I feel like we Ray McCullum-ize these end of the bench players often
Not to be confused with All-Stars who never were like Brockness Monster or Harry Giles…
What if this is return of boogie ð³.
It’s Dedmon.
Or that lol boy, it’ll be hilarious if Dedmon comes back and somehow beats out Holmes for the starting C spot. Dedmon revenge tour
It certainly fits the team’s predilection for domestic abusers.
They have to have their Kangz counterpoint to the recent all women/nonbinary broadcast crew.
Fly away little bird, be free.
Bring back DeMarcus and I’m watching every minute of every game for the rest of the season. The pure drama would be worth it.
It he even able to walk, let alone run the court, at this point?
Put Andy Furillo at one end of the court and he’d be the fastest guy on the team.
Shouting: Jaleel!
He wasn’t going to get time on this annual 8th seed chase anyway.
Let’s look at the writing on the wall. Vivek is not going to rebuild so Woodard and Ramsey are not going to get playing time or a long enough leash to develop these next 2 years.
Sad as it sounds, it’s probably reality, they can’t even get 6 garbage minutes when we’re down 27 on a first night of a back to back. Two more prospects going to waste.
Maybe, one more at best !
Nobody expected that……
Jeffries played decent defense….
Remember in one game, he hit 5/5 on 3 pts shot…
I lost some faith in this FO…
there is no way not to play Jeffries some playing minutes at all
It’s the coaching staff that determines minutes, yes?
Yes.
On the other hand, we hear these stories about how Monte had a lot of input on rotations in Houston…
And that still does not explain why Monte would dump Jeffries over JJ.
I posit that if the argument is Jeffries vs. James, your team is pretty much fucked.
Sure, but I posit that if your GM is talking about value players, and wants to keep the “core” together, these are the margings he has to work within. And then it seems like keeping JJ instead of dumpinmg him for another value buy seems more logical. That’s all.
Maybe, though JJ did have some decent defensive minutes recently and offers a little more length … overall a bit of a toss up. Curious to see who they bring in.
I don’t think Jeffries or James provide any NBA value, except to play garbage minutes for bad teams. They are among the best players in the world, but when measured with the NBA yardstick they are a dime a dozen.
Part of the new Moneyball-ish philosophy seems to be churning through low level players trying to find a gem. Farhan Zaidi looks like he’s doing that exact thing with the Giants, with some actual success at it.
Could the persisted idiotic lineups we’ve seen a symptom of Walton knowing McNair can’t fire him no matter how bad he coaches? If McNair and Walton have open and daily conversations it wouldn’t have made sense to see Bagley in the starting lineup without earning it, Joseph playing a bunch of meaningless minutes ahead of other young players, Halliburton not playing alongside Fox, etc
It’s unfortunate, but Wright, Davis, and Woodard, with his strength make Jeffries kind of redundant. I do hope someone picks him up, he plays hard, and I love seeing those guys succeed.
Gotta figure out how to get Bagley his minutes when he comes back.
He had a couple of decent games with us, but a back of the bench guy getting waived is a bit of a nothing burger. I wish him luck at his next stop.
Wonder who’s being brought in.
While I dislike the coach and have no choice but to give the new GM some time to reshape the roster and possibly make a big move or two; I think this speaks to a larger issue – Kings player development is severely lacking. I think organizational culture is a big part of this. I see some players on the roster who can buy into and help facilitate a culture change (Haliburton even spoke to that recently), but it is disheartening to see players languish here, and young players not get an opportunity to ball.
Are we just going to see quasi-rotational players light-up the G-League in Stockton, only to sit on the bench and watch Walton’s 8-man rotations continue to play like hot garbage?…
It seems the average fan can see talent in many of these guys, but the coach or organization can’t. I hope DaQuan catches on somewhere and gets an opportunity to become a rotational piece. He certainly seems to have the ability.
I’d like this again if I could. 100% agree. Wish DaQuan the best – another escapes Basketball Hell.
The problem is, it was McNair who signed Jeffries to the 2-year deal. He just waived the guy he signed 5 months ago. This was not McNair reshaping the roster he got from Vlade. I have an issue with that.
Bargain-basement contract that had a team option for next season. He basically showed Jeffries the door a few months ahead of schedule. I won’t get worked up about it; DQ wasn’t playing anyway.
Player development is not lacking for the Kings. If that was the case, players who the Kings have released would be playing at a higher level on some other team. The problem is simply poor drafting, poor utilization of the free agent market, and a failure to make positive trades. Fox and Holmes are developing just fine and Barnes may be playing his best basketball with the Kings. Papa, WCS, Giles, Justin Jackson, Malachai Richardson, Stauskas, and a bunch of second rounders havent done anything elsewhere.
Right. The problem isn’t bad player development, it’s just bad players.
Skal.
Yes, good one. We probably should add B-Mac while we’re at it.
Jimmer, T-Rob, Justin Jackson, Marinovic,
and we traded Gary Trent ( rights to G. Trent) and rights to Kenyon Martin and they are both playing.
Unless Jeffries was involved in Luke Walton-kellie Tennant type of scandal, this is purely a dumb kangzing move that matches the result of tonight’s game…..
We need a forward with some size that can hit the 3 ball and can defend not bagley. I liked john collins and aaron gordon but I doubt we had enough to give up without jeopardizing our future too much. I liked harry giles too wtf F.O.
You should take a look at the beloved Harry Giles’ numbers, they’ll free you of the romantic notions you may have. I love HG, but he’s not going to be an NBA player that moves the needle, unfortunately.
We really can’t have nice things, huh?
What I’ve gathered from McNair is he seems to subscribe to the idea that you need young shooters with size, versatility and switchability on defense. Davis and Wright fit that mold. Looking back, Haliburton was probs McNairs ultimate draft crush up until he picked him. DaQuan projects as an undersized forward that needs every ounce of scrappiness he has to be a plus defender because he’ll never have the length that others are gifted. McNair likes to see an athletic frame you can build into a 3 and D, advanced stats beast ala Morey. He probably still sees it in Bagley, if only he could stay healthy. Fox is almost an atypical player for him to build around, but I suppose he’s simply so efficient via attacking the basket and getting out in transition he can shrug off some limited 3 and D upside. I’m starting to get the picture and I willing to see where we go from here. Good luck Jeffries! Go Kings!
I think you are right…and that’s maybe why McNair tired to trade Bagley for S. Bey…
However, Piston were smart enough to reject that offer…
Bey was the guy I wanted at 12 assuming the top 10 went as we all thought it would. Big fan of his and happy to get some vindication on one of my draft crushes. Getting our Mikal Bridges type to play next to Hali and Fox for the next decade for a project forward that can’t stay healthy would’ve been the steal of the century.
But Jeffries is bigger, taller and stronger than Davis.
Totally different players. Davis has some guard skills. Jeffries has zero guard skills, but Jeffries can play bigger and D up Zion.
Exactly. Davis can seemingly play combo guard, whereas Jeffries couldn’t handle the offensive requirements of that position. To me, I can classify Davis as a big, versatile guard, but Jeffries is more of an undersized forward.
He sees Bagley as a 3 and D beast? Then why did he try to trade him for Seddiq Bey. I am pretty sure no astute observer is watching Marvin play and thinks defensive beast. I think our GM wants to get rid of Marvin ASAP and only speaks kindly of him because that is what you do when you have tact and discretion and want to create the impression he is a valued and valuable asset up to the moment you find the greatest sucker, er, highest bidder.
Now it all makes sense.
Nice. He could be the 3&D guy to replace Buddy in the starting 5.
Similar BBIQ. Will fit in seamlessly.
Better defender. Joeger played him at the 3 a lot in that half-season. Offensively, better fit with the starting unit also. Fox, Haliburton, and Barnes work well as the primary, secondary and tertiary initiators. All you need is a better defender who can hit 3s.
McLemore has only been better than average as a shooter for three out of eight seasons, and doesn’t do much else well. I’m not even sure why he’s still in the league.
I’m not saying anyone is scared of playing against him. My point is more that the Kings starting unit would be better if Buddy were switched out with a 3&D player. A plug n play guy, 4th or 5th option. Very limited role.
I can’t believe that there are people here trying to sell other Kings fans on Ben McLemore. He may be the dumbest player ever to wear a uniform.
And this talk of him a a 3&D guy? He does the first inconsistently, and the last hardly at all.
“And Tweedledee hits the bench after dribbling the ball of his foot again, replacing him will be Tweedledum!”
No, no, and No………….!!!
Please don’t do that to me…………..

All he would do is get out of the way, spot up for 3s.
Well, the Kings do fancy themselves as contenders.
Oh, fuck no. Once was too many times, and he’s been here twice.
my guess is it has to do with health. He had several injuries in the first half of the season. Woodard might have jumped over him on the depth chart also.
But I don’t see the harm in keeping him around. He had an unguaranteed deal for next year that could have been trade fodder in the offseason. Is he redundant with guys like Davis, Wright and Woodard…yes, but Monte isn’t likely to find an end of the bench player for the open roster spot that is going to move the needle in the win/loss column either.
Now, if Jeffries asked to be released, then fine, but I fail to yet see the justification in cutting him.
the roster limit in the Adelman years was 13 players. Don’t really need 17 guys.
My point is more that it doesn’t bother me to let go of Jeffries. It wouldn’t bother me if they let go of 4 players, reduced the roster to 13 and let go of two or three coaches. It’s more a psychology thing. When there are more people around to do things, people tend to work less, thinking someone else will do the work. It’s like large bureaucracies. (Except for scouting. The more the merrier there)
You do realize you’re talking about people with families right?
I’m talking about Troy Brown who was one of the coolest football players ever because aside from playing wide receiver and returning punts, he could also play defensive back in a pinch.
He is going to come back and haunt us. Good luck.
My best guess is that neither James or Jeffries were likely to be on the team next year and since Jeffries contract is slightly smaller, he’s the first to go.
Hopefully they try out some 10 day guys and find someone to sign to a two way while giving Metu a long term contract.
My guesses:
1) His agent requested to be released
2) Another team has indicated that they would claim him off waivers, saving the Kings some $$ and opening a roster spot (maybe back to Orlando now that they are in a full rebuild?)
I liked the idea of DJ more than DJ as a player. Undersized wing that could scrap defensively but couldn’t shoot consistently. Bubble play was his peak, but that Kings team was awful. But wish him all the best.
This is probably close to the truth. I still can’t help but feel like the McNair era will be a little too cutthroat.
Well, if cutthroat means that we won’t be over-sentimentalizing and overvaluing guys like Francisco Garcia, Donte Greene, and Giles, then get the knives out.
It’s unfortunate that the staggering lack of success here has so frequently led to fans falling in love with players who are clearly below-average on the court.
didn’t realize we were only allowed to love players who are at least average. People have love to give, not their fault the team doesn’t bring in average talent
This love stuff is not true. Jimmer and ThRob was more a matter of lust.
I miss Voisin.
Some folks here were ThRob-ing with lust.
Agree and it is not even cutthroat. It is a mischaracterization to say waiving a player so he is afforded opportunity to go catch on with another team where he has a more genuine chance to stick is cutthroat. It is a professional courtesy.
DaQuan wasn’t going to play the next 25-30 games, we are committed to Davis at backup SG, as we should be, he’s the better talent. I think DaQuan could play some backup SF, but I guess the coaching staff does not.
So if we save a few bucks in the process of giving a player more of a legitimate chance to make an NBA career for himself, thats not cold-blooded, thats a good deed at best, win-win at the worst.
How do you know this transaction gave him a more legitimate chance to make an nba career?
I just think GMs can fall into a habit of treating players like they’re assets first.
Maybe, but McNair has done next to nothing in his first offseason and trade deadline. Drafted a (good) player, moved a guy who was out of the rotation, and made one good trade to move a terrible player for a rotation guy. If anything, I think he’s been timid. This team is a lot further than a couple rotation players from contention.
Yes money saving for the Kangz is total reason for the move…remember we are the king of trading for the famous “Cash consideration!”
The Cup Is Half Full Take:
At least the Kings didn’t extend him and promise to never trade him before cutting him.
Looks like Damian Jones will take DQ’S spot on the roster.
Wow, just saw this. This is terrible.
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