Through four preseason games, the Sacramento Kings are shooting 25.2% from 3, dead last in the league. It’s just preseason but that number is concerning.
So the Kings have signed a veteran sharpshooter, reaching a one-year deal with veteran Doug McDermott, the team announced (Shams Charania of ESPN broke the story, and the Kings confirmed soon after).
McDermott, 32, shot 41% from 3 last season between the Spurs and Pacers, a number right at the average of his 10-year career. McDermott was the No. 11 pick out of Creighton in the 2014 NBA Draft and has bounced around the league as a journeyman playing for the Pacers, Bulls, Spurs, Knicks, Mavericks and Thunder.
McDermott will come off the bench on the wing behind DeMar DeRozan and Keon Ellis in a rotation with Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter (who has been cleared for contact but has yet to play this preseason as he recovers from shoulder surgery).
Sacramento also confirmed a trade, sending Jalen McDaniels and its unprotected 2031 second-round pick to San Antonio in a salary dump (the Kings technically get the Bulls’ top-55 protected 2025 second-round pick in return).
The Kings were about $1 million below the luxury tax line, sending out McDaniels freed up some flexibility to make the McDermott signing possible without entering the tax. The Spurs turned around and waived McDaniels. He had shown some promise early in his career in Charlotte and signed a two-year, $9.3 million contract with the Raptors a year ago, but he fell in their rotation and they sent him to the Kings in a salary dump trade earlier in the summer. Now he is a free agent.
