Free Agency Preview for Key Sacramento Kings Reserve

As the offseason approaches, Sacramento will bring most of its rotation back next season. Eight of the Kings’ ten regular rotation players are under contract through the 2025-26 season.

As noted in our free agency preview, Jake LaRavia will be an unrestricted free agent, and the Kings are hamstrung in what they can offer the young wing. Trey Lyles hits unrestricted free agency as well. Since Lyles (acquired from the Detroit Pistons during the 2021-22 season in the Marvin Bagley trade) has been in Sacramento for over three seasons, they have his full Bird rights, meaning they are not limited in what they can offer him in free agency.

Lyles has filled many roles during his stint in Sacramento. He has played 60%, 82%, and 58% of his minutes at the 4, and 40%, 17%, and 42% at the 5, respectively.

Before the Kings acquired Jonas Valanciunas, the backup centers used with Lyles on the roster included Richaun Holmes, Alex Len, Neemias Queta, and JaVale McGee. Holmes was serviceable, but it does not take much explanation to see why former coach Mike Brown regularly opted for Lyles at the 5.

When the Kings ran a true backup big, Lyles was the backup to Keegan Murray and (during his first 2.5 seasons in Sacramento) Harrison Barnes. This changed when Sacramento acquired Jake LaRavia at this year’s trade deadline. Lyles’ role was scaled back, even logging several DNP-CDs.

Lyles’ value to the team was highlighted when Murray and Laravia were both sidelined with injuries. He stepped into the starting lineup and averaged 10 PPG, 7.7 RPG, and 2 APG on 48/33/56 splits in 39 MPG during a critical late-season stretch against playoff teams in Cleveland, Detroit, and Denver. For comparison, his full-season averages are 6.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.2 APG on 42/34/70 splits in 19.5 MPG.

Lyles also ranked 10th in charges drawn per 36 minutes this season. He has a strong understanding of how to position and fall to get these calls in his favor, and it is a legitimate tool that makes up for his lack of conventional rim protection.

Lyles has always been active on the glass as well, ranking in the 99th percentile in Offensive Rebounding Crashing Skill, which measures a player’s ability to put themself in a position to compete for offensive rebounds.

While these statistics will not land Lyles a supermax - or even a full NTMLE - he has cemented himself as a rotational forward who can moonlight as a center where matchups or health require. Lyles’ skill set should appeal to teams searching for versatile frontcourt depth.

Reference points that will come up in negotiations include Dario Saric, Kyle Anderson, and Georges Niang. All three players were in similar forward-big roles in their platform seasons. Kyle Anderson has signed two comparable contracts - first in 2022 when he left Memphis for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and last offseason when he joined the Golden State Warriors.

Grant Williams is more of an opening point in negotiations for Lyles’ camp than a potential outcome. Even though their statistical profiles are similar, the situation is clearly distinguishable - Williams was a restricted free agent and five years younger than Lyles when he signed this contract.

Notably, Saric, Niang, and Anderson’s first contracts were all signed using salary cap exceptions. These exceptions allow teams to sign free agents without exceeding the salary cap or luxury tax. Players in this salary range are understandably available to more teams than those who command salaries above the exception values, thus requiring functional cap space (a rarity these days).

On the other end of the value spectrum, Dario Saric is an example of a contender utilizing an exception to entice a player to take less money to sign with a contender. The Nuggets, a taxpaying team, were able to use their taxpayer mid level exception, and sweetened the deal with a player option in the second year.

This is a very real scenario for Lyles. Team fit may entice him to take less money to contend for a title elsewhere. Since he is unrestricted, Sacramento would not have the opportunity to match the offer.

Alternatively, Lyles may receive an offer that exceeds Niang and Anderson if the Kings lose LaRavia - a very real possibility given the limitations on what the Kings can offer him.

Without LaRavia, Lyles becomes Sacramento’s only backup big wing, which they cannot afford to lose in a league that continues to get taller and longer at all positions. The positional need, paired with Lyles’ status as an unrestricted free agent, could put the Kings in a tenuous position in this negotiation.

Importantly, Lyles is represented by Klutch Sports. As we know, Klutch has not been afraid of using leverage against the Kings this year (and may use it again later this offseason during extension negotiations for Zach LaVine, another Klutch client). Here’s hoping that they have a good relationship with Scott Perry.

Since the Kings will likely be without their first-round pick and will not have the cap space to make a significant addition, retaining Lyles may be the best option. While fans may (justifiably) be okay with banking on Isaac Jones and Isaiah Crawford to develop into this key role in their second seasons, this path is unlikely to appeal to a team purportedly in win-now mode.

If other teams are interested (they should be - Lyles is good, and could be had using exception money, which broadens his market), Sacramento may need to overpay to keep Lyles and maintain positional depth.

Absent a Saric-to-Denver type bargain, Lyles should fetch a salary comparable to the adjusted Anderson or Niang figures. Both players have been similarly valuable forwards off the bench, providing some positional versatility and making spot starts when needed.

Signing Lyles in this range would leave Sacramento below the luxury tax (just below $188M in 2025-26), with several million of their NTMLE available to sign other players.

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