Sacramento Kings Blog – Page 26 – NBA Blog

Kings waive Jordan Farmar

The Sacramento Kings waived guard Jordan Farmar today.

According to CSN Bay Area, Farmar was waived “to make room for the returning Darren Collison. Sacramento was granted a short reprieve with their roster when Collison was shifted to the league’s suspension list after his fifth missed game, allowing the team to ink Farmar to a deal for depth.”

In two games played with the Kings this season, Farmar averaged 6.0 points (.333 FG%, 4-9 3pt), 1.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists, including 9 points (3-8 3pt), two rebounds and a team-high seven assists against the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 5. A 10-year NBA veteran, Farmar has tallied career averages of 7.7 points (.423 FG%, .374 3pt%, .739 FT%), 1.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 19.5 minutes per game in 504 contests.

Kings sign Jordan Farmar

The Sacramento Kings today signed free agent guard Jordan Farmar, according to Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Vlade Divac.

Farmar averaged 6.5 points (.471 FG%, 5-11 3pt, .833 FT%), 1.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists in four preseason contests with Sacramento, including 14 points (5-8 FG, 4-5 3pt), one rebound and five assists against the L.A. Lakers on Oct. 13. A 10-year NBA veteran, Farmar has tallied career averages of 7.7 points (.423 FG%, .374 3pt%, .739 FT%), 1.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 19.5 minutes per game in 502 contests.

Kings waive Jordan Farmar and Isaiah Cousins

The Sacramento Kings today waived guards Jordan Farmar and Isaiah Cousins, according to Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Vlade Divac.

Selected by Sacramento out of Oklahoma in the second round (59th overall) of the 2016 NBA Draft, Cousins appeared in two exhibition contests for the Kings, totaling 12 minutes. The 6-5 guard averaged 9.7 points (.408 FG%, .407 3pt%, .711 FT%), 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.1 steals and 27.7 minutes per game over 137 career contests in four seasons with the Sooners (2012-13 – 2015-16).

Kings exercise contract option on Willie Cauley-Stein

The Sacramento Kings announced today the team has exercised its third-year option on center Willie Cauley-Stein, according to Kings Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Vlade Divac.

This was an expected move. Cauley-Stein is one of the team’s main young building blocks.

Cauley-Stein is entering his second season with the Kings after being selected with the sixth overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. An All-Rookie Second Team honoree last season, Cauley-Stein registered 7.0 points (.563 FG%, .648 FT%), 5.3 rebounds and 1.00 blocks in 21.4 minutes per contest over 66 games played (started 39) in 2015-16.

Sacramento Kings buy Reno Bighorns

The NBA Development League and the Sacramento Kings today announced that the team has acquired a controlling interest in the NBA D-League’s Reno Bighorns. With the purchase, the Kings become the 15th NBA team to own and operate its NBA D-League affiliate.

“With today’s purchase, half of NBA teams now own and operate their NBA D-League affiliate – an important milestone that proves how essential developing top young NBA talent has become,” said NBA D-League President Malcolm Turner. “I’m thrilled to welcome Vivek Ranadivé and the Sacramento Kings’ ownership group to the NBA D-League family and want to thank Herb Santos for his integral role in Bighorns basketball.”

Longstanding partners, the Bighorns and Kings have been affiliated since the 2008-09 season, Reno’s inaugural NBA D-League campaign. Prior to the 2013-14 season, the teams entered into a single-affiliation partnership, with the NBA franchise managing basketball operations for the NBA D-League club. With today’s purchase, the Kings will now assume all business operations of the Bighorns.

“We’re excited to deepen our relationship with the Bighorns and the Reno/Tahoe community,” said Kings owner and chairman Vivek Ranadivé. “This is an incredible opportunity to develop players, front-office staff and future business executives for the Sacramento Kings, while simultaneously contributing meaningfully to the Reno entertainment, commercial and non-profit ecosystem.”

Five current Kings have NBA D-League experience. Additionally, head coach Dave Joerger and assistant coaches Bryan Gates and Duane Ticknor all made the jump to the NBA coaching ranks following stints on NBA D-League benches.

Since the team’s inception, more than 10 Bighorns have earned GATORADE Call-Ups to the NBA, including San Antonio Spurs guard Danny Green. Additionally, 16 NBA players have spent time on assignment in Reno, including current NBA players Jeremy Lin and Hassan Whiteside.

“It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to grow basketball and provide family-friendly entertainment in the Reno community over the past five years,” said Bighorns minority owner Herb Santos. “I cannot thank everyone enough for the years of support and look forward to continuing to cheer for the Bighorns alongside each of you.”

On Nov. 2, the Kings will join the Bighorns for a Celebration Day featuring Kings talent in order to give fans in Reno an opportunity to connect directly with the Sacramento organization. Those interested in purchasing a season-ticket membership can sign up on the priority list at RenoBighorns.com/membership or by calling 888-91-KINGS to have first shot at securing seats before they go on sale to the public on Nov. 2.

Launched in 2001, the NBA D-League has expanded from an eight-team league to a record 22 teams for the 2016-17 season, all of which will be singly affiliated with an NBA parent club. The NBA D-League will tip off its 16th season on Nov. 11.

Rudy Gay still a King, for now

Kings forward Rudy Gay is entering the 11th year of his career. Time has flown. He turned 30 in August. The time to win is now, or at least pretty soon. Sacramento probably aren’t the place where that’s going to happen, and it’s likely that Gay will have a new home, either via trade sometime this season or via free agency in the summer of 2017. Here’s the Sacramento Bee with the latest:

Gay will opt out of his contract after this season and become an unrestricted free agent, fueling speculation the Kings will trade the forward to avoid losing him with no compensation.

“I made the decision to opt out,” Gay said Monday during the team’s media day. “Whether I sign here, whether I’m here the rest of the season or whether I start here, it’s really not up to me. Wherever I am, I’m going play to the best of my ability.” …

“I’m pain-free,” Gay said. “I’m in the best shape of my life, I’d like to say, and I’m focused. No matter what, I come here to play with my brothers, and that’s everybody in that locker room, and we’re playing to win.”

New Kings arena is high-tech

These are just some of the details (see article for more), but the new Kings arena in Sacramento sounds like all sorts of fun. Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting:

Golden 1 Center, built for an eye-popping $557 million, will be one of the most high-tech sports facilities anywhere. Fans will speed through “smart turnstiles” to enter and tap their cellphones to find their seat. Tweeting and posting photos to Instagram should be a breeze; the arena comes with enough bandwidth to support a stadium four times as big. And don’t worry about getting a headache from staring at the world’s largest indoor video scoreboard; it was designed by a Walt Disney Co. engineer to minimize eye movement.

Opening with a pair of Paul McCartney concerts Oct. 4 and 5, the downtown arena is an extension of Ranadive’s worldview. An electrical engineer by trade, he is fascinated with the newest, greatest and most advanced. Golden 1 is state of the art, and then some…

Even the stuff that seems low-tech at first blush fits into Ranadive’s obsession with bigger and better. Take the 40-foot-high aircraft hangar doors that loom over the arena’s main entrance, which can be left open during games and concerts. Though the Kings haven’t decided when to deploy them – plenty of details have to be worked out first – Ranadive loves the idea of several thousand spectators watching an event from the exterior of what Ranadive calls the world’s first “indoor-outdoor arena.”

Rudy Gay to opt out of Kings contract after this season

Players often keep this sort of thing to themselves. Rudy Gay telling this to the Kings actually helps the team. It means the team will almost surely try to trade him this season, and even if they get a lot less for him than they wanted, something good better than nothing. Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting:

Forward Rudy Gay has told the Kings he will out of his contract after the season, meaning he likely will leave the team as an unrestricted free agent.

Gay signed his three-year, $40-million extension, with a player option for the third year, early in the 2014-15 season, when the Kings appeared on the rise under coach Michael Malone.

Gay was on the trading block this summer, according to multiple league sources, but his ability to opt out of his deal made it difficult for the Kings to acquire equal value in a trade.

Kings sign Jordan Farmar

The Kings today signed free agent guard Jordan Farmar.

Already at the point guard spot for Sacramento are Darren Collison and Ty Lawson, while Isaiah Cousins will also be trying to prove his value, so it’s a crowded situation for Farmar.

Entering his 10th NBA campaign, Farmar has tallied career averages of 7.7 points (.423 FG%, .374 3pt%, .739 FT%), 1.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 19.5 minutes per game in 502 contests. A two-time NBA champion with the L.A. Lakers (2009 and 2010), the 6-2 guard joins the Kings after spending last season with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Memphis Grizzlies, where he posted 9.2 points (.420 FG%, .356 3pt%, 10-10 FT), 2.1 rebounds and 3.1 assists in 12 games playing for Dave Joerger.

The former Bruin standout and 2005 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year averaged 13.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists in two seasons with UCLA before the Lakers selected him 26th overall in the 2006 NBA Draft.

Kings sign rookie guard Isaiah Cousins

The Kings have signed rookie guard Isaiah Cousins.

Drafted in the second round (59th overall) in the 2016 Draft by Sacramento out of Oklahoma, the 6-5 guard averaged 9.7 points (.408 FG%, .407 3pt%, .711 FT%), 3.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.1 steals and 27.7 minutes per game over 137 career contests in four seasons with the Sooners (2012-13 – 2015-16).

Stat-wise, Cousins was at his best as a senior, averaging career-bests in points (12.6 ppg), assists (4.5 apg), steals (1.4 spg) and minutes (33.3 mpg) while grabbing 4.5 rebounds a game, shooting 40.6 percent from the field and 41.1 percent from three-point range.