Why did Monk and the Kings quickly agree to a new deal before free agency

Written by Anthony Slater, Sam Amick and Mark Beaulieu

Malik Monk will reside in Sacramento. League sources confirmed that the highly-scored reserve is expected to sign a new four-year contract worth $78 million, the maximum allowable contract the Kings could offer him, with him incentivized by a player option in the final season.

Below are the annual dollar amounts on his new deal.

• 2024-25- $17.4 million
• 2025-26- $18.8 million
• 2026-27- $20.2 million
• 2027-28- $21.6 million (player option)

Monk was the runner-up for the 2024 Sixth Man of the Year award after averaging a career-high 15.4 points per game in 72 contests off the bench for Sacramento. His energy off the bench was crucial for the Kings, who won 46-36 and fell to the Play-In Championship.

Monk also flourished as a distributor in 2023-24, averaging 5.1 assists per game and ranking among the league leaders in assists per drive.

After being drafted by Charlotte in 2017 and spending one year with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021-22, Monk arrived in Sacramento needing a fresh start in 2022 and immediately found success off the bench. He finished fifth in Sixth Man of the Year voting and 11th in Most Improved Player voting for the 2022-2023 season.

Sacramento signed Monk to a two-year, $19.4 million contract in 2022, a contract he quickly outdid.

After helping the Kings snap a long playoff drought in 2023, Monk’s season in 2024 ended poorly as he missed the final month of the season, including the team’s Play-In Tournament games, due to a sprained right MCL.

“I could go somewhere else with a lot of money and be worse off,” Monk said after the season when asked about the possibility of a big payday. “So you never know. I have a great agent who will do his job. I think my job is done, I did what I had to do this year. I think things will go the right way.”

While he was in control of his emotions and seemed undecided about his future, he answered directly when asked if he wanted to be in a Kings jersey next season.

“Sure,” the monk said without much hesitation.

Why did this happen so quickly?

New CBA rules allowed the Kings and Monks to begin negotiations the day after the Finals. He. She truly It was a simple presentation by Sacramento. Due to some financial constraints, they were only able to offer a maximum of four years and $78 million. They incentivized it with a player option last offseason, allowing Monk to return to free agency a little early if his career trajectory continued to trend upward.

The kings put this maximum offer on the table and the monk – his side made it clearly He surveyed the free agency landscape — and decided that was enough to tempt him back to the Kings, a place where he thrived and wanted to stay. -Anthony Slater, senior NBA writer

What does this mean for kings?

They return one of the most productive bench players in the league, in his prime (26) and keep together what are arguably the core four members of their lineup: De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, Keegan Murray, and Monk, who was impressive in the playoffs two seasons ago. And it might have been enough to get them back to the playoffs in April had he not missed the final stretch of the season with an MCL sprain. The Kings have the 13th pick in next week’s draft and general manager Monte McNair has expressed interest in using him in a trade if they can upgrade the roster. — Slater

What does this mean for the free agent market?

He. She This is always beneficial for the rest of the free agents coming in when a player runs back to his agent king The team is early in the process. This keeps more space and potential landing sites available. Monk didn’t go to Orlando, Detroit, San Antonio or anywhere else, relishing the space.

So this leaves potential landing spots open for similar players in his kingdom like Klay Thompson, D’Angelo Russell and James Harden. — Slater

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(Photo: Justin Ford/Getty Images)