The Kings were in a no-win position with Bogdan Bogdanovic's offer sheet from the Hawks
Was not matching the right move?
It’s really, really easy to say, “The Sacramento Kings should have matched the offer sheet given to restricted free agent Bogdan Bogdanovic,” and be done with it.
If you’re a team that continues to try to find the formula that returns you to the postseason, of course you’d want to retain the services of a talented 28-year-old wing who scored 15.1 ppg last season and plays solid defense.
But it’s a more complicated decision than what’s on paper.
Let’s start with the roster makeup: this is a team already paying a HUGE amount of money to Buddy Hield, a decision I applauded at the time and still feel is the right call even after he came off the bench a bunch in 2019-20 because Bogdanovic was there as well. The real mistake was paying Harrison Barnes through 2023, and Cory Joseph making $12.6 million a year for each of the next two seasons seems like an error. Of course they had to extend De’Aaron Fox with a max extension.
Add up all that and the way the Hawks shrewdly put together the offer sheet, and you’ve got a tough position when it comes to matching:
The Kings would have been completely locked up with no wiggle room for a while unless they somehow unloaded Barnes’ contract, and for that, they’d probably have to throw in future picks, something a young, rebuilding team can’t do.
And for those who say, keep Bogdanovic and trade him later, it would have been a year before he would be dealt (and remember the trade kicker above!):
That means you run the risk of ticking off Hield further if you match.
This is just a total bummer for the Kings, who just can’t seem to unglue themselves from the middle of the pack — just good enough to compete for the No. 8 seed in the West, not bad enough to climb higher in the lottery.
The good news is this team got a steal with the 12th pick in the NBA draft, taking Tyrese Haliburton (perhaps figuring that they were losing Bogdanovic). The core with Hield, Fox and Marvin Bagley III is intact, and now the work to figure out how to maneuver with what they’ve got begins. There’s hope even without Bogdanovic that they can build a playoff contender.