Sacramento Kings: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
By Phil Watson
Signing Tyler Lydon
When the Denver Nuggets declined the third-year option on former first-round pick Tyler Lydon last fall, it set the former Syracuse big man up to fade out of the NBA.
But the Sacramento Kings opted to take a shot on Lydon, signing him to a non-guaranteed deal for two years and $3.38 million.
Lydon missed most of his rookie year with injuries, appearing in just one game for the Nuggets and logging two minutes.
Last season wasn’t much more revealing. While he was active for 61 of Denver’s first 62 games last season, Lydon took 36 DNP-Coach’s Decisions during that time and played just 94 minutes in the 25 games in which he did appear.
He did not dress for the final 20 games of the season and was also inactive for the Nuggets during their playoff run.
His numbers aren’t bad — 9-for-18 overall and 4-for-10 from 3-point range with 18 rebounds to go with 23 points.
At 6-foot-10 and 225 pounds, he’s a bit on the thin side to play the 4 and will be buried on the depth chart in Sacramento behind Marvin Bagley III, Harry Giles and Nemanja Bjelica — all on guaranteed deals, by the way.
Lydon has a limited window to show the Kings why he should stay around, but with Sacramento already projected to be over the cap by nearly $5 million, Lydon might lose the battle based not on the numbers on the court, but those on the cap sheet.