NBA News: Jimmer Fredette Nears Buyout with Sacramento Kings; Shooter Could Land with Memphis Grizzlies
Finding no fair deals in the trade market before this year’s trade deadline, the Sacramento Kings are instead finalizing a buyout agreement with shooting guard Jimmer Fredette after the All-Star break.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, the Kings searched for probable trades before February 21 but couldn’t finalize a deal despite multiple teams showing interesting in the college standout.
Sacramento picked Fredette as the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft but the 24-year-old never really saw consistent playing time with the Kings averaging just 18.6 and 14.0 minutes in his first two years and dropped to 11.3 minutes this season.
The 6-foot-2 shooting guard averaged 7.0 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 171 games for the Kings.
Fredette’s future with the Kings was in question already after the front office decided against picking up the 2014-2015 team option on his contract. Fredette is set to be paid $2.57M in his final year in Sacramento.
If and when Fredette hits free agency after the buyout, some teams are expected to swoop down on the shooter. Among the teams reportedly interested is the Memphis Grizzlies, which are in search of scorer off the bench.