Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The Sacramento Kings have no business paying a 33-year-old $7.58M for the 2013-14 campaign. If the Kings are indeed rebuilding then the idea of playing John Salmons quality minutes on a nightly basis is completely moronic. In loom of the team trading the fifth overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft it’s time for the Kings to sever ties with Salmons.
Although the “youth movement” mindset is more common in the MLB, it still applies to teams like the Kings who owe it to themselves to start playing their younger players over veterans. Sacramento has only two players over the age of 30 in Salmons and Francisco Garcia and neither should be getting significant minutes.
In my mind the Kings completely botched the Thomas Robinson draft pick as he played in 51 games in his rookie-season and started zero games playing in a lousy 15.9 minutes per game. With a 19-38 record what did the Kings have to lose playing Robinson key minutes to see what kind of player he is at the NBA level?
If the Kings continue to mishandle players like Robinson they might as well not even have a draft as dealing them 50 games into their career shows the patience of a second-grader.
Salmons was paid upwards of $8M this season, is owed $7.58M in 2013-14 and has a team option of $7M the following season. If I was a Kings executive I would have Salmons bought out in a matter of minutes as they need to have players showcasing what they have or they will continue to be the depths of the Western Conference.
