Bogdan Bogdanovic signs offer sheet with Atlanta Hawks; Kings have 48 hours to match

Bogdan Bogdanovic’s days with the Kings might be numbered after three seasons in Sacramento.

The Atlanta Hawks signed the 28-year-old restricted free agent to an offer sheet Sunday worth $72 million over four years, sources told The Athletic. Marc Stein of the New York Times reported the deal includes a player option for the fourth year and a 15% trade kicker.

The Kings will have 48 hours to match if they wish to retain Bogdanovic’s services. If they match, they would be locked into the terms set forth by the Hawks, would not be able to trade Bogdanovic without his consent for one year and could not trade him to Atlanta under any circumstances for one year. If they do not match the offer, they will lose one of their best players without compensation.

Bogdanovic, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard, averaged a career-high 15.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 61 games for the Kings last season. He shot 44% from the field and 37.2% from 3-point range.

Bogdanovic turned down a four-year, $51.4 million extension prior to the 2019-20 season, choosing instead to test the market as a restricted free agent.

Under rules of the collective bargaining agreement, a restricted free agent can sign an offer sheet with any team, but the player’s original team can retain him by matching the terms of that offer. The terms of that deal, which must be for a minimum of two seasons, are provided to the player’s original team, which has two days to match the offer.

If the team matches the offer, the player remains under contract with his original team under the principal terms of the offer sheet. If the team declines to match the offer, the player is under contract with the new team.

There was some short-lived excitement in Sacramento on Saturday night when NBC Sports California reported the Indiana Pacers were showing interest in Bogdanovic. That led to speculation the Pacers might be willing to include Myles Turner in a sign-and-trade deal, but a well-placed league source told The Sacramento Bee the Pacers “aren’t engaged in this,” flatly rejecting the idea of Turner being involved in such a deal.

The Kings reportedly agreed to a sign-and-trade deal last Monday that would have sent Bogdanovic and Justin James to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Donte DiVincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova and D.J. Wilson, but that deal collapsed over the course of the week. A source told The Sacramento Bee “there is no deal” when the trade was first reported Monday and reiterated “there was never a deal” as the trade unraveled Wednesday, noting Bogdanovic could not be offered a new contract until free agency began Friday. The NBA is now investigating whether that failed deal violated the league’s tampering rules.

The Kings extended a $10.7 million qualifying offer to Bogdanovic on Thursday, ensuring they would have the right of first refusal as he entered restricted free agency. The Kings hoped to get something in return in a sign-and-trade, but the Hawks were one of the few teams in the NBA with enough salary cap space to meet Bogdanovic’s demands without shedding salary.

Kings general manager Monte McNair might choose to match the offer from Atlanta, but Sacramento’s roster is getting expensive. The Kings already have nearly $97 million allocated for the 2020-21 season with only nine players under contract. Buddy Hield will earn $24.4 million in the first year of his new deal, Harrison Barnes will earn $22.2 million and backup point guard Cory Joseph is owed $12.6 million.

Signing Bogdanovic for an estimated $18 million would push the team’s payroll to $115, well over the $109.1 million salary cap, and that doesn’t account for rookie Tyrese Haliburton. The Kings can exceed the salary cap to sign Bogdanovic because they hold his Bird Rights, but that’s a hefty price to pay for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in 14 years, the longest active postseason drought in the NBA.

The Kings on Friday signed De’Aaron Fox to a maximum five-year, $163 million extension that could be worth up to the $195.6 super max with incentives. He will reportedly earn $28.1 million in the first year of that deal in 2021-22. The Kings will owe Fox, Hield, Barnes, Joseph, Marvin Bagley III and Justin James a total of $96.5 million. With Bogdanovic that figure would increase to about $114.5 million. The salary cap will be between $112.4 million and $120 million, depending on league revenue.