http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13236318p-14078882c.html
Evans waits in the wings
The Kings' moves, along with Cuttino Mobley's, help to determine his fate.
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, July 15, 2005
One might think news of Cuttino Mobley's plans to sign a five-year, $42 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers also would increase the chances that free-agent swingman Maurice Evans will return. That is not necessarily the case. Perhaps the best-case scenario for the Kings as well as Evans would have been the team's ability to execute a sign-and-trade deal with Mobley, the team's starting shooting guard last season, that would have brought a bigger and more physical power forward to Sacramento.
That would have allowed the Kings, who are over the salary cap, to retain their mid-level exception (approximately $5 million) and use some of it to re-sign Evans. However, if the Kings decide they still want to improve at power forward, as flirtations with Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antoine Walker and Nene suggest, they'll either have to do so via a trade or use that mid-level exception and, in that case, likely lose the ability to re-sign Evans.
Geoff Petrie, the Kings' president of basketball operations, said Thursday that using the entire mid-level exception on anyone other than Evans could make it difficult to retain the athletic 6-foot-5, 26-year-old. But Petrie knows that much of free agency and offseason trade activities have yet to play out.
"All our options still are open," he said with a snicker when asked about not having made any agreements with free agents Mobley, Evans or Darius Songaila.
The Kings, as well as players' agents, do not know all the specifics of the new collective bargaining agreement. Under the old agreement, there was a "million-dollar exception" (raised to $1.7 million last season) that could be used every other season. Petrie, who used that last season to re-sign Songaila, does not know whether teams can use that exception again.
Roger Montgomery, Evans' agent, said he and Petrie spoke Thursday afternoon.
Because the NBA agreement was reached late last month, teams will not be able to sign free agents until today at 3 p.m.
Evans waits in the wings
The Kings' moves, along with Cuttino Mobley's, help to determine his fate.
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, July 15, 2005
One might think news of Cuttino Mobley's plans to sign a five-year, $42 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers also would increase the chances that free-agent swingman Maurice Evans will return. That is not necessarily the case. Perhaps the best-case scenario for the Kings as well as Evans would have been the team's ability to execute a sign-and-trade deal with Mobley, the team's starting shooting guard last season, that would have brought a bigger and more physical power forward to Sacramento.
That would have allowed the Kings, who are over the salary cap, to retain their mid-level exception (approximately $5 million) and use some of it to re-sign Evans. However, if the Kings decide they still want to improve at power forward, as flirtations with Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Antoine Walker and Nene suggest, they'll either have to do so via a trade or use that mid-level exception and, in that case, likely lose the ability to re-sign Evans.
Geoff Petrie, the Kings' president of basketball operations, said Thursday that using the entire mid-level exception on anyone other than Evans could make it difficult to retain the athletic 6-foot-5, 26-year-old. But Petrie knows that much of free agency and offseason trade activities have yet to play out.
"All our options still are open," he said with a snicker when asked about not having made any agreements with free agents Mobley, Evans or Darius Songaila.
The Kings, as well as players' agents, do not know all the specifics of the new collective bargaining agreement. Under the old agreement, there was a "million-dollar exception" (raised to $1.7 million last season) that could be used every other season. Petrie, who used that last season to re-sign Songaila, does not know whether teams can use that exception again.
Roger Montgomery, Evans' agent, said he and Petrie spoke Thursday afternoon.
Because the NBA agreement was reached late last month, teams will not be able to sign free agents until today at 3 p.m.
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