In a rather unsurprising move, the Sacramento Kings have officially waived journeyman guard Arron Afflalo.
The results of the 2017 NBA Draft for the Sacramento Kings has everyone in the organization — as well as the team’s fanbase — buzzing, but that doesn’t mean the team is resting on its newfound laurels.
In a move that catches no one off guard, it was reported yesterday afternoon by Shams Charania of The Vertical that the team have waived guard Arron Afflalo.
As Charania notes, Afflalo’s fully guaranteed salary rated at $12.5 million for next season was set to trigger Friday had the Kings sat back and gone past his deadline guarantee. Now that they have officially waived him, Afflalo will now enter this summer as an unrestricted free agent.
With this move now made official, Afflalo’s time in Sacramento comes to an end just after one season. In 61 games played this year, the 31-year-old averaged 8.4 points per game on shooting splits of .440/.411/.892, along with 2.0 rebounds per game and 1.3 assists per game.
Charania’s colleague at The Vertical, Bobby Marks, points out that the Kings can opt to stretch the $1.5 million salary that’s owed to Afflalo over three years via the stretch provision.
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Afflalo is now the fourth Kings player that won’t be under contract for them next season after they waived Anthony Tolliver in a similar salary-cutting move, and with both Rudy Gay and Langston Galloway declining their respective player options for next season.
Now with 10 players under contract for next season, the Kings will have an ample amount of cap space for this summer estimated at $52 million, according to Marks.
How the Kings are planning on using their cap space this summer has become an intriguing topic of discussion.
Earlier this week, Brian Windhorst of ESPN relayed that the Kings are one of four teams known to be interested in free agent-to-be Paul Millsap:
"“There are three or four teams out there that are willing to give Paul Millsap a max-level contract and sources have already told me that the Hawks have already begun getting some feelers on Paul Millsap sign-and-trades. Teams like the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets are interested in Paul Millsap.”"
This isn’t the first time the Kings have been linked to Millsap as they were reportedly chasing him earlier this year when the Atlanta Hawks were testing the market for him ahead of the trade deadline.
Along with Windhorst’s reporting, ESPN‘s Zach Lowe notes in his recent profile on the Minnesota Timberwolves that the Kings may look to target veterans via free agency:
"“The Bulls have cap space, but they also have a chance to step into the league’s tanking vacuum — especially if the Kings, after a great draft night, follow through on plans to chase big-money veteran free agents.”"
Only a week remains before we fully dive into this year’s free agency and with a team that has plenty of options open, the Kings are in prime position to further reinforce their rebuilding situation in a variety of ways.
Next: 2017 NBA Draft grades for all 30 teams
In the meantime, the celebration will continue for all Kings fans in the wake of how this year’s draft turned out.