Sacramento Kings and Power forward Domantas Sabonis have agreed to renegotiate and extend their contract for a total of $217 million over five years, Sabonis’ agent Greg Lawrence confirmed to the athlete. ESPN was the first to report the news. Here’s what you need to know:
- Sabonis averaged 19.1 points and 7.3 assists per game for the Kings last season.
- He also averaged 12.3 rebounds per game, leading the league in 2022-23.
- The three-time NBA All-Star has career averages of 15.1 points, 4.2 assists, and 9.7 rebounds per game over seven NBA seasons that include stints with Oklahoma City, Indiana, and Sacramento.
the athleteInstant Analysis:
Deal evaluation
WOWZER. That’s a pretty damn bag right there for Sabonis, as it looks like the Kings will commit their entire remaining $17 million in cap space to a renegotiation and extension deal that would bring him up to $36.1 million this year — including $2.6 million in potential incentives — and then It took four years and $175 million ($12 million of which would be potential incentives again) to keep him in Sacramento for the next half decade. Sabonis is a valuable player who deserved All-NBA flowers last year, but that seems like a vastly overreaction to both his 2022-23 season and the Kings’ season; BORD estimates him at $26.6 million next year and he’ll make over $40 million in his 28 through 31 seasons.
The question is… did the Kings really need to go that far? Aside from the $17 million opportunity cost of other players they might have signed, Sacramento fired their first pick in the sun to get that room in the first place. All that pays Soap is a deal that seems unlikely that anyone will offer him next summer, when the Kings would still have full bird rights to him. – Hollinger
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