NBA free agency: Bogdan Bogdanovic joins Hawks after Kings decline to match $72 million offer sheet
After an eventful offseason, Bogdan Bogdanovic will end up with the Atlanta Hawks.
The Sacramento Kings have declined to match the sharpshooter’s four-year, $72 million offer sheet with the Hawks, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, leaving Bogdanovic free to join a young team in Atlanta.
The Sacramento Kings have declined to match the Atlanta Hawks’ four-year, $72 million offer sheet for restricted free agent guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 25, 2020
The Kings had the right to match Bogdanovic’ deal with the Hawks thanks to his restricted free agent status, but have now decided they don’t want the contract in their future plans.
Bogdanovic later confirmed his departure on his Instagram account.
Bogdanovic is coming off a season in which he averaged 15.1 points per game while shooting 37.2 percent from deep, chipping in 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. Plenty of teams would have a use for a shooter like him in today’s NBA, including a team that is now being investigated by the league over its pursuit of him in free agency.
Bogdanovic nearly joined Bucks in sign-and-trade
Before Bogdanovic found his landing spot with Atlanta, he was at the center of one of the larger free agency fiascos in recent memory.
Days before free agency was set to begin, it was reported that the Kings and Milwaukee Bucks had agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that would send Donte Divincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova and D.J. Wilson to Sacramento. The move was apparently part of the Bucks’ plan to convince Giannis Antetokounmpo to sign a supermax extension.
It was a deal that seemed to benefit nearly every party. The Bucks get a valuable 3-point shooter and a better shot at retaining their generational star. The Kings get some talent in return rather than lose their player for nothing. Bogdanovic gets to join a title contender in the East.
And then it all fell apart.
First, it was reported that the deal was in peril because, apparently, Bogdanovic had never actually agreed to a deal with the Bucks. That sounds like a pretty significant oversight, though it made a lot more sense when the NBA was reported to be investigating exactly how the Bucks agreed to a deal with a free agent before free agency officially began.
Soon after, the deal was dead. The Bucks have been forced to revamp their offseason plans, and now the Kings will lose Bogdanovic while getting nothing in return. Not that the Hawks are complaining.
Hawks keep adding veteran talent
One of the youngest teams in the NBA has become a lot older after the first week of free agency.
Intent on building around Trae Young and co., the Hawks have brought in not only Bogdanovic, but also Danilo Gallinari, Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn to inject some experience into their roster.
Both Bogdanovic and Gallinari ranked among the NBA’s top 10 in catch-and-shoot 3s per game last year, and you can bet the Hawks will have a use for that alongside Young’s playmaking. Rondo gives the team a competent ballhandler when Young is off the floor, and also the ability to say they have an NBA champion on their roster. Dunn gives them a premium defender in the backcourt that could help offset Young and Rondo’s shortcomings on that side of the court.
With less than a month left until the beginning of the NBA season, it won’t take long to see how those additions work out.
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