Sacramento Kings center Kosta Koufos will exercise his 2018-19 player option worth $8.7 million to return to the club, league sources said Wednesday. The 10-year veteran opted to bypass free agency and instead test the market in the summer of 2019.
Storyline: Kosta Koufos Free Agency
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Garrett Temple, the other King known for his defense, calls Koufos the “ultimate professional.” “He’s perfect in terms of he knows his role and just goes out and does it, no matter if he plays 15 minutes, 30 minutes,” Temple said. “He’s one of the best defensive bigs, if not the best I’ve been on a team with, knows where to be on offense in his rolling spots and hits that floater on offense.” Koufos has a player option for next season worth $8.7 million. Temple, who also has a player option for next season, is already campaigning for Koufos to return.
Kosta Koufos to Sacramento
Alex Kennedy: Kosta Koufos has received interest from the Mavs, Lakers and Kings among others. The Bucks showed interest too (before landing Greg Monroe).
Chris Mannix: With Monta Ellis off the market, a name to keep an eye on in Sacramento: Kosta Koufos. One of best available bigs in dwindling market.
Koufos is already a hot name with Orlando, Sacramento and Boston showing interest on him and the Bucks are also in the mix. The team is in the market for a center and Koufos is one of the candidates. The offer that Koufos is going to get is directly connected with the money which the team will have to spend in order to re-sign Khris Middleton.
May 22, 2018 | 10:49 am EDT Update
But D’Antoni dismissed the criticism as “noise,” wondering whether those whining about isos had watched the top-seeded Rockets all season. “We are who we are, and we had to be who we are,” D’Antoni said after the Rockets’ victory in Game 2, in which Houston ran 46 isos. “We just did it better, longer. Guys believe it, and we’re not going to change anything up. That would be silly on my part to panic. ... “We can beat anybody anywhere at any time playing the way we play. Some people might not like it, you know? Hey, sorry. You know, it might not look good to some people. But it’s effective. It’s efficient.”
The most 3s the Suns attempted during D’Antoni’s tenure was 25.6 per game in 2005-06, an unheard of number at the time. That would have ranked 25th in the NBA this season, when D’Antoni’s Rockets shot 42.3 3s per night, breaking the league record they set last season. “If we’d shoot 30-something 3s back then, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh!'” D’Antoni said. “That was like stepping out of the box back then. But that was like putting our toes in the water. I should have dove in, and I really regret that.”
As the deadline approaches for college basketball players entered in the NBA Draft to decide whether to turn pro or remain in college, Kentucky’s Wenyen Gabriel is a busy man. The sophomore from Sudan was not invited to last week’s pre-draft Combine in Chicago like five of his UK teammates, but that doesn’t mean Gabriel hasn’t been seen by NBA teams. During a pre-draft workout at Sacramento’s facility on Monday, Gabriel said the Kings were his fifth NBA visit. The 6-foot-9 forward said he previously stopped in Oklahoma City, Utah, Milwaukee and Brooklyn.
The Hawks have reached an agreement with Melvin Hunt to join head coach Lloyd Pierce’s staff as an assistant, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The hiring is expected to become official later Tuesday. Hunt will be the first assistant coach to be hired for Pierce’s staff since he was named Hawks head coach on May 11.
You’ve said you’d like to own an NBA team. Kevin Durant: I wish I had the money. It’s crazy. Obviously, the financial part is definitely going to be the hardest part. I’ve been part of two great organizations. I know the game inside and out and I know the players. And I feel like these NBA franchises just change lives. They change cities. I would love to do that. All the aspects of owning a team, I would love to be involved in — from the financial and marketing side to the team-building to the camaraderie to the coaching.
Clearly, Durant has been dropping dimes of the literal kind. So we sat down with him to discuss his presence in Silicon Valley, his growing empire and whether his ultimate investment might come in the form of an owner’s suite. ESPN: How much smarter of a businessman are you than you were, say, two years ago? Kevin Durant: I have mentors like Ron Conway [early-stage Google and PayPal investor] and Ben Horowitz [co-founder of Silicon Valley venture capital fund Andreessen Horowitz] and good friendships with guys like Chris Lyons [chief of staff for Andreessen Horowitz]. I mean, you just go to dinner with these guys, hang out with them. You start to meet these types of people at games. It’s a little easier being here than saying, “Let’s meet up when I come in from Oklahoma.”
