The Sacramento Kings made a surprising and not shocking move on Thursday, declining to pick up the contract option for young star Jimmer Fredette, setting up the situation where he could be traded this season to the Utah Jazz or Cleveland Cavaliers as he is set to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2013-14 season.
The Kings put out a statement about the move and while they like Fredette, the team felt it was the best decision for the franchise at this time. The news was first reported by USA Today and the Kings now have declined to pick up the fourth year option for $3.1 million and the fact that they declined with such a low number likely means that Fredette will be on his way out of Sac-town either during the season in a trade or after the season as a free agent. The USA today report says that the team has interest from two teams and that means a move could go down at some point this season.
While the Utah Jazz are NOT part of the two teams mentioned in the story according to USA Today, that doesn't mean they couldn't emerge later on, as they need some more outside shooting and with Fredette coming from college at BYU, he could be a fan favorite. The Kings have a glut of players now at the position, as they drafted Ben McLemore and already have Marcus Thornton and that could mean the 24-year-old is one again the odd man out. The point guard position is no help either with Greivis Vasquez and Isaiah Thomas and after Fredette got his career started in Sacramento, it could be over just as quickly.
Fredette was contrite and neutral in a statement after the move, saying that the team is making a business decision that is best for the organization and now they could try and trade him. The best thing Fredette has done in the league so far is his outside shooting, which is near 40 percent over his last two seasons, but he has been inconsistent shooting overall from the field and he has not been the elite scorer that he was in college. Fredette's numbers are better when extended to 36 minutes, as he averaged nearly 20 points last season, but his straight numbers of 7.2 points and 1.3 assists per game with a 42 percent field goal percentage was nothing special.
Fredette has had a hard time getting into the regular rotation in each of his seasons with the Kings and now that they have a new coach, general manager and owner, the team may want to move in a new direction with him. Fredette only averaged 14 minutes per contest last season and while that is one reason his stats were not quite up to par, another is that he has not been able to show his worth enough in other spots and clearly that is why the Kings declined the option.
The USA Today report says that while the Jazz have not been one of the teams poking around for Fredette, he could fit in well after playing at BYU and with the team already having young talent in Gordon Hayward and Derrick Favors, he could join that little core after Trey Burke was injured in the preseason. The Jazz would be one of the obvious fits, but it remains to be seen if a deal will go down.
