The Kings signed Royce White to consecutive 10-day contracts, but allowed the most recent one to expire without inking the troubled player for the remainder of the season.
Sacramento hardly gave White a decent look, at least at the NBA level. The first 10 days or so he spent in the D-League, and when he was actually with the Kings, he managed to log just nine total minutes over three separate appearances.
Somewhat ironically, the biggest test for White would have come now, as Sacramento embarks on a three-game road trip that would have required White to overcome his anxiety disorder and fear of flying to make the journey, thereby showing he could in fact handle a very basic part of NBA life without incident. But just as it was with his time on the floor, the franchise wasn’t willing to give him that chance.
From Jonathan Santiago of Cowbell Kingdom:The Kings did not sign him to a new contract for the rest of the season, but head coach Michael Malone wouldn’t rule out a possible return for the rookie forward.
“The door is not closed,” Malone said after practice when asked about the potential for White to rejoin the team after its upcoming three-game road trip. “The 10-day has ended, but that doesn’t mean that the relationship has ended for good.” ...
“I think for him and his future and his career, he has to start amending some of the things that have happened in the past,” Malone said of White. “Everybody here can only speak positively about our time with Royce and as we just mentioned, it doesn’t mean that his time here is over. For right now it is, but I appreciate his hard work.”
Malone is referring, of course, to the way White handled his situation when first coming into the league with the Houston Rockets.
White said all the right things while in Sacramento, however, so he may in fact get another opportunity in the future. The Kings may have signed him for 20 days, but he hardly got a complete look -- both in terms of minutes played, as well as seeing whether his travel issues are truly a thing of the past.