The Sacramento Kings and shooting guard Buddy Hield have hit an impasse in contract negotiations after the franchise doled out a four-year, $90 million extension offer earlier this week. Hield and his representatives viewed it as too low, wanting roughly around $110 million to net his services for the next four years.
Yet the Kings are surprisingly optimistic in getting a deal done, even after Hield called them out in front of reporters, noting that if the Kings weren't willing to pay him his worth, another team will.
According to Jason Jones of The Athletic, the Kings believe that four-year, $90 million offer is viewed as as a starting point in negotiations and are confident that they will get a deal done with their leading scorer.
Hield has been a favorite of owner Vivek Ranadive ever since he was acquired by the team, as he compared the Oklahoma product to a young Stephen Curry.
The 6-foot-4 sharpshooter has quickly jumped as one of the elite marksmen in the league, now boasting a career clip of 41.9% from deep after only three seasons in the league. His value catapulted this past season after scoring a career-high 20.7 points per game after becoming a full-fledged starter, a reason why the Kings threatened to make the playoffs before their colossal fall from grace in the last third of the season.
However those $20 million standing in between Hield's asking price and Sacramento's starting offer are a massive amount to dispute, considering the team still needs to line up a route to sign point guard De'Aaron Fox and big man Marvin Bagley III to extensions. Swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic has also been extended a four-year, $51.4 million offer, which he will ponder in the next few days.
The Kings will need to sort out their priorities and decide who falls as their ultimate need ahead of this season, as there's not enough money to keep everyone content in a talent-filled lineup.
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