Kings’ contract with Fox worth $163M for 5 years
On the first night of free agency, De’Aaron Fox was the first huge winner.
Huge, as in $163 million — or even more.
Fox and the Sacramento Kings agreed on a max deal Friday night, agent Chris Gaston said. It’s a five-year pact that will pay Fox $163 million, and that figure could rise to nearly $200 million if Fox makes an All-NBA team or receives other league honors.
Fox’s numbers have improved in each of his three NBA seasons. He averaged 11.6 points as a rookie, then 17.3 points two seasons ago and finally 21.1 points last season for the Kings. His field goal percentage has also risen in each of the last two seasons.
Fox’s extension will kick in for the 2021-22 season and start at $28.1 million.
Free agency opened in the NBA on Friday at 5 p.m. Central. No deals can be signed until 11:01 a.m. Sunday, and many of the biggest available names — such as the Lakers’ Anthony Davis and Fred VanVleet, who has seen his star rise meteorically with the Toronto Raptors — did not make immediate decisions on their futures.
Davis is expected to remain with the Lakers; the question there is how the new deal will be structured. VanVleet is expected to command at least $80 million over the next four seasons, if not more, and Toronto has made clear that they would like to keep the undrafted guard who became a huge part of the Raptors’ run to the 2019 NBA championship.
A breakdown of moves Friday:
ATLANTA
Danilo Gallinari — one of the top wings on the freeagent mark et—agreed to a threeyear contract worth $61. 5 million, a person with knowledge told the AP.
Galli nari averaged 18.7 points for Oklahoma City last season and is a 38% career shooter from three-point range.
Gallinari, a 32-year-old Italian, has also played with the Knicks, Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers. He was originally the sixth overall pick in the 2008 draft by New York.
DALLAS
The Mavericks and Trey Burke have agreed on a $10 million, three-year contract to bring the guard back after he played well in the
NBA bubble.
Burke originally joined
Dallas in the trade with
New York headlined by Kristaps Porzingis in early 2019. The Mavericks didn’t re-sign Burke before last season, and he ended up in Philadelphia.
The 76ers waived Burke in February before the coronavirus shutdown, and Dallas signed him before the restart after center Willie Cauley-Stein opted out of the finish to the season.
DETROIT
The Pistons have received commitments Friday night from centers Mason Plumlee and Jahlil Okafor. ESPN said Plumlee would sign a threeyear deal for $25 million.
Plumlee later posted a thank-you letter to Denver fans on his Twitter account.
MIAMI
The Heat got quick agreements from point guard Gora n Dragi c and center
Meyers Leonard on twoyear deals, the second year in both cases being team options. Dragic will make about $18 million next season, Leonard about $9 million.
“I simply appreciate that they care about the little things,” Leonard said.
Dragic flew back to Miami from his native Slovenia on Friday and intends to sign his new contract quickly. He said the fact that the Heat will have much of its roster back from a year ago, when the team won the Eastern Conference title, was particularly important to him.
MINNESOTA
The Timberwolves reached a $60 million agreement with restricted free agent shooting guard Malik Beasley that’s for three years plus a team option for a fourth year.
Beasley, who was acquired from the Denver Nuggets in a four-team trade in February, was charged last month with drug possession and threats of violence after allegedly aiming a rifle at a family in their vehicle outside his Minnesota home where a large amount of marijuana and other guns were seized during a police search.
Beasley averaged 20.7 points in 14 games after arriving in Minnesota.
The Timberwolves also finalized and confirmed three draft-night trades, including the deal with Oklahoma City reuniting them with point guard Ricky Rubio.
ORLANDO
A person with knowledge of the negotiations said the Magic and guard Dwayne Bacon agreed on a one-year deal for about $2.5 million this coming season. The Magic hold a team option for 2021-22.
PHILADELPHIA
Veteran center Dwight Howard is going to join the 76ers on a one-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum of $2.6 million, agent Charles Briscoe told AP.
Howard heads to Philadelphia after helping the Los Angeles Lakers win this past season’s NBA title.
UTAH
Jordan Clarkson is staying and Derrick Favors is coming back.
Clarkson agreed to a fouryear, $52 million deal; he averaged 15.6 points in 42 games after getting traded to Utah last December. And Favors — a post player who spent most of his NBA career in Utah before playing with New Orleans last season — returned on a deal that will pay him nearly $30 million for three seasons.