NBA free agency: Vince Carter signs one-year deal with Sacramento Kings
By John Buhler
After three years with the Memphis Grizzlies, small forward Vince Carter will sign a one-year deal with the Sacramento Kings. For Carter, this is 40.
It really might be the end of an era in Memphis Grizzlies basketball. Grit ‘N Grind is dying before our very eyes. Power forward Zach Randolph signed a two-year deal worth $24 million with the Sacramento Kings of the 4th of July. Now his former frontcourt teammate with the Grizzlies in Vince Carter will be joining him in Sacramento.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, “Free agent Vince Carter has agreed to a one-year, $8M deal with Sacramento.” This will be Carter’s 20th season in the NBA after being the No. 5 overall pick by the Golden State Warriors in the 1999 NBA Draft. He will be turning 41 years old in 2017-18.
Carter is a no-doubt, first ballot Basketball Hall of Famer. He is an eight-time All-Star mostly with the Toronto Raptors and the then New Jersey Nets. Carter should eclipse 25,000 career points this season. Sacramento will be the seventh organization he’s played for, but why Sacramento?
Free agent Vince Carter has agreed to a one-year, $8M deal with Sacramento, agents Kurt Schoeppler and Jim Tanner tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 7, 2017
Keep in mind that the Kings are coached by former Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger. Carter played under Joerger from 2014 to 2016. Sacramento may have been the biggest laughing-stock in the Western Conference for the last decade, but there is no laughing now at how well the Kings have done this offseason.
They didn’t mess up their NBA Draft, as Sacramento took future franchise point guard De’Aaron Fox No. 5 overall out of Kentucky. Sacramento would then trade the No. 10 overall pick they inherited from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Portland Trail Blazers for picks No. 15 and No. 20. With those two other first-round selections, the Kings took wing Justin Jackson out of North Carolina and forward Harry Giles out of Duke with those picks, respectively.
Next: NBA Free Agency Tracker 2017
In short, what Sacramento is trying to do here is bring in a group of well-respected veterans in Carter, Randolph and former Utah Jazz point guard George Hill to help teach these youngsters how to win. Make a couple million, play for Coach Joerger again? Sure, why not?