When the Kings acquired Terence Davis at the trade deadline, the expectation was always that the 24-year-old guard would be in Sacramento for longer than a rental.

The Kings took the next step towards that reality Tuesday by extending a qualifying offer to Davis, as reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. That makes Davis a restricted free agent, giving Sacramento match rights to retain him for the upcoming season.

Sacramento has tendered a qualifying offer to guard Terence Davis, making him a restricted free agent, sources tell ESPN.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 27, 2021

The qualifying offer is worth $1,897,476. If Davis accepts the offer, then he can become an unrestricted free agent in the 2022 offseason. Unless he really dislikes being a King, which doesn’t seem to be the case, the more likely option is Davis seeks out a multi-year deal at a higher starting value. That could come from another team, in which case Sacramento has the ability to match, or he and the Kings could agree on a new contract themselves.

Because Davis arrived in a trade, Sacramento has his early bird rights. That gives the Kings the ability to start a contract at $10.4 million, just like they can with Richaun Holmes. Davis assuredly will not command that type of money, but the point is that the team doesn’t need to clear any cap space to keep Davis around. His cap hold is the qualifying offer.

Davis was a regular rotation player immediately upon getting to Sacramento. He averaged 11.1 points in 21.5 minutes per game and connected on 37.2 percent of his 3-pointers. With Buddy Hield constantly in trade rumors, it would behoove the Kings to keep a 2 guard with his shooting ability around, and that appears to be the plan.