Ranking the best bargain contracts in the NBA this season
NBA Bargains: Domantas Sabonis
Prorated salary: $4.3M
Win Shares: 2.6 (equivalent to $9.6M, assuming $3.7M as a baseline)
Excess value added: $5.6M
It’s interesting that this methodology has yielded three centers that play three completely different styles. Sabonis is the biggest name on this list with the most easily noticeable contributions: He’s averaging 16.9 points, 11.0 rebounds, and a whopping 6.4 assists as a high-post hub for the Sacramento Kings.
Coach Mike Brown spent the last several years with Golden State, and you can see a lot of the Kerr/Looney utilization in Brown’s Sabonis sets. But Sabonis is a far more capable offensive player, and Brown has rightfully allowed Sabonis much more freedom to initiate on his own.
Although the Kings have run significantly less pick-and-roll than the majority of NBA teams (just like the Warriors!), Sabonis still is near the top of the league in screen assists. He also averages the second-most traditional assists of any big man (behind Jokic).
Despite a reputation as a poor defender, Sabonis is solid defending the P&R and staying with ballhandlers on the perimeter. He tries hard and mitigates physical limitations with solid positioning — advanced stats have generally had him as an average defender over the years (although, like any big man, he can look silly when iso’d against the best guards). I wouldn’t go so far as to say he’s a good defender, but he’s not the disaster that lowlights make him out to be.
Sabonis has abandoned his unreliable jumper in favor of making hay at the rim (shooting a career-high 75%!) and from the floater area. He has a dancer’s feet but a hippo’s girth, and he can alternate between his technique and his strength at will. For a guy with little vertical ability, he also yams on fools with surprising regularity.
Sabonis is directly involved in the action so much that his most underrated skill is rarely noticed: off-ball movement. People don’t often think of big men as cutters, but Sabonis has a good sense of timing and a feel for exactly when to make a move without cluttering the lane for a driver, and he has fantastic hands.
The Sacramento-Indiana trade continues to look like a win-win.