Jimmer Fredette has never quite found his role in Sacramento, now they are going to set him free and let him find his way with another team.
After trying unsuccessfully to trade Fredette for a second round pick at the trade deadline, the Kings are close to a buyout agreement with the third year NBA player, reports Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports.The Sacramento Kings and guard Jimmer Fredette are finalizing a buyout agreement on his contract, league sources told Yahoo Sports…
Fredette had been one of college basketball’s most prolific scorers at BYU – scoring 2,599 points in his career – and earning consensus honors as college basketball’s player of the year in 2011. Nevertheless, he has struggled to find his niche with the Kings. Still, there are expected to be several teams with interest in signing him for the rest of the season, league sources said.
As for those trade reports...
Fredette will have to clear waivers, then he will be a free agent.
Fredette has shown he can shoot the ball, hitting 49.3 percent from three this season. He had a lot of success last season working off the ball but this season 45.6 percent of his shots come with him as the pick-and-roll ball handler (and he shoots a respectable 46.1 percent on those). Still he remains strong working off the ball, hitting 55.9 percent of his shots on catch-and-shoots and also does well coming off screens.
The big issue is he is a defensive liability, which has frustrated a series of Kings coaches and really suggests Fredette is suited to a reserve role in the NBA.
He is a free agent at the end of the season — the Kings did not pick up the option year on his contract — and there likely will be a team willing to give him a little tryout the rest of this season.