The Sacramento Kings tried to use their cap space to poach Zach LaVine from Chicago, but the Bulls matched the offer and kept the athletic wing.
Next up, Boston’s Marcus Smart. That according to A. Sherrod Blakely of NBC Sports Boston.
Source: After striking out on Zach Levine, the Sacramento Kings are preparing to put together an offer #Celtics Marcus Smart.
— A. Sherrod Blakely (@ASherrodblakely) July 10, 2018
Smart was considering signing the qualifying offer to play in Boston for a season, then become an unrestricted free agent in 2019 (when more teams had money). The Celtics, trying to avoid going into the luxury tax this season (to delay another year before they hit the repeater tax), would have been good with this.
The question becomes what that offer will be, both in terms of how much money per year and how many years? The Celtics reportedly were willing to pay in the $12 million a year range to Smart (he believed he deserved more), so the Kings need to go far enough above that number so the Celtics don’t match. Is it a three-year offer? Four years? Three plus a player option or reduced buyout om the final year?
Look for it to come down in the next couple of days. And then the ball is in the Celtics’ court, they will have 48 hours to match.
