When the Sacramento Kings selected Nik Stauskas in the first-round of the 2014 NBA Draft, many assumed the writing was on the wall for Ben McLemore.
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McLemore, the No. 7 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft had a down rookie season in Sacramento though the franchise seemed very excited about his potential. Given that, it seemed to difficult to suggest the team would be willing to move on from the former Kansas product but it seemed such was happening.
However, the Kings were quick to point out that McLemore was going nowhere. In fact, the organization and head coach Mike Malone believes McLemore and Nik Stauskas can both play together.
“What I’ve seen is that Ben and Nik can play together without any problems,” stated Head Coach Michael Malone during the team’s mini-camp practices in Las Vegas this summer. “They both have a pretty good understanding of the game and they play well off of each other. When you have two guys who have the potential to shoot as well as they do, it’s going to pose problems for other teams.”
Both McLemore and Stauskas play the same position and essentially the same game, though Stauskas proved to be a bit more versatile in college. Will that translate into the NBA? That remains to be seen though playing both in the same lineup seems like a recipe for disaster given the Kings’ current lineup which would force Rudy Gay to power forward.
While the Sacramento Kings would still have DeMarcus Cousins at center, that’s a relatively small lineup.