Harrison Barnes must have made a great impression with the Sacramento Kings during the second half of the season. Sacramento is preparing to offer a four-year contract extension in the $88 million range according to The Drive on KHTK’s Carmichael Dave.
The Sacramento Kings are working towards an agreement with Harrison Barnes in the 4 year, 88 million dollar range…….
— Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave) June 28, 2019
Sacramento sent Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph to the Dallas Mavericks in a deal for Barnes during last season and was confident they could get him to sign an extension. While the trade didn’t lead to breaking a 12-year playoff drought, Sacramento was impressed with his stable play and being a steady locker room presence. The Kings wing averaged 14.3 points and 5.9 rebounds in 28 games with the Kings last season.
Overall it is quite shocking that the Kings will make Barnes that big of a priority to try to get a deal done at the start of free agency. Barnes is a steady presence, but given the contract the Kings are about to offer one must wonder if they view him as a player that can help lead them to break this playoff drought.
The other scenario is that Sacramento just doesn’t believe that they have the ability to go out and lure free agents to join them. They have some nice young prospects but losing the former NBA champion will leave a void that they feel they just won’t be able to fill with a replacement on the market.
Even if the deal between Barnes and the Kings get done, they will still have the cap room to try to bring in other pieces. Its no secret that Sacramento is looking to end its playoff drought, so don’t be surprised if they attempt to be active in free agency to land another quality player to join their young prospects.
