One day before Free Agency is officially set to begin, multiple reports confirm that Sacramento Kings guard Zach LaVine is opting into his final year worth $49 million. This is unsurprising news as there was no way that LaVine could get near that same money by pursuing free agency. The Kings are widely expected to continue to try to find a new home for LaVine via trade but given the size of his contract it won’t be an easy task.
LaVine came to Sacramento as the main return of the De’Aaron Fox trade. He played in 32 games for the Kings that season, but then just 39 all of last season as he dealt with a variety of injuries. LaVine averaged 19.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 31.4 minutes per game last season.
LaVine remains a very talented scorer and shooter with the issue always being his contract length and size. Given that this is his final year, that contract could look more palatable to a team in need of his talents, but it also might have to wait until closer to the trade deadline when the Kings will have already had to pay out most of it. Scott Perry and his regime are looking to build a new foundation for this team, and by all indications, LaVine and the other veterans left over from the previous front office aren’t part of his calculations. We’ve already seen reports that the Kings are expected to trade or waive DeMar DeRozan before the season begins, and Domantas Sabonis has been a constant source of trade rumors, although the Kings have yet to find an offer to their liking.
The new league season calendar officially starts tomorrow with the kick off to Free Agency. As we’ve written previously, the Kings don’t have a lot of room to maneuver, but moving off of some of these veteran contracts could change things drastically. We’ll see how Scott Perry and company handle their second offseason of this rebuild, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and the Kings and fans might need to stay patient while some of these contracts come off the books.
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