Sacramento Kings: Waiting on Bogdan Bogdanovic

Big decisions are on the horizon for the Sacramento Kings, one being whether Serbian international Bogdan Bogdanovic will join this summer as the team holds his draft rights.

After getting off to a fast start this offseason, the Sacramento Kings have suddenly shifted to playing the waiting game.

The Kings were quick to expand their front office shortly after the end of the 2016-17 regular season and rumor has it more additions may be on the way too.  But now, all has gone quiet on the Kings front after those flurry of moves.

At this point in the postseason, that’s obviously to be expected.  Before long, however, key decisions will have to be made that will impact the bulk of the Kings’ offseason.

Many options, both on team and player, will have to be decided, some of them well before the start of free agency.  Those decisions apply for players like Rudy Gay, Langston Galloway, Arron Afflalo and Anthony Tolliver.

More from Sacramento Kings

• 3 Reason why keeping Harrison Barnes was the right move for the Sacramento Kings
• How the Kings’ sneaky signing of Sasha Vezenkov can boost their offense
• Ranking the 5 best available power forwards in 2023 NBA free agency
• NBA Trades: The Kings could bolster their frontcourt by adding this center
• 3 Offseason moves the Sacramento Kings must make to win the West

One more name will be added to that list in due time, though it regards someone who has yet to even play a single minute for the Kings: Bogdan Bogdanovic.

After acquiring his draft rights from the Phoenix Suns on the night of last year’s draft, the Kings have been penciling in 24-year-old Serbian international combo guard into their future roster.

After all, Kings general manager Vlade Divac has long been high on Bogdanovic’s NBA prospects, something that only sweetened the deal that brought over Skal Labissiere and Georgios Papagiannis.

That decision to add Bogdanovic to that deal last summer continues to age well, based on Bogdanovic’s strong play overseas this year.  In fact, it was only just last week that Bogdanovic led his club, Fenerbahce, to the Euroleague’s final four.

Despite missing a handful of games with an ankle injury, Bogdanovic has been central to the team’s successful run this year.  In all competitions, Bogdanovic is averaging 14.3 points per game on 49.5 percent shooting from the field and 39.2 percent shooting from deep, along with 3.8 assists per game.

Clearly impressive stuff for a player who is far from hitting his prime and is thriving in leagues and environments that are akin to the NBA. The looming question regarding Bogdanovic is just when will he make his decision regarding the future of his playing career.

More from Hoops Habit

• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
• NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers

Divac has long remained confident that Bogdanovic will be coming over to play for the Kings next season, which caused Bogdanovic to release a statement in early March saying that he would make the decision on his future until after the completion of his season with Fenerbahce.

According to famed Euroleague insider David Pick, Bogdanovic’s buyout from his current contract with Fenerbahce will be north of $1 million.  Along with that, any deal Bogdanovic will have once he makes his jump to the NBA will not fall under the rookie scale, since he’ll have to be technically signed as a free agent.

No big hurdles for the Kings to clear — as well as no real concerns about his talent — will far outweigh any potential concerns one may have on a future deal.

At least two more games remain in Fenerbahce’s season, no matter the outcome. From there, we can only assume all parties involved will enter negotiations in hopes of Bogdanovic making the leap to the NBA and landing in Sacramento.

Next: The top 10 moments of Paul Pierce's NBA career

For all the wait Kings fans have had to experience regarding Bogdanovic, having him in the fold for a new era of Kings basketball has arguably never sounded more exciting.