Kings extend offer to Bogdanovic as NBA opens investigation
SACRAMENTO — The Kings have extended a qualifying offer to Bogdan Bogdanovic and the NBA has reportedly launched an investigation following a failed sign-and-trade agreement that would have sent the Serbian shooting guard to the Milwaukee Bucks.
A league source told The Sacramento Bee the Kings extended the $10.7 million qualifying offer Thursday, a day before NBA free agency is set to begin. The offer gives the Kings the right of first refusal, allowing them to match any offer sheet Bogdanovic signs with another team.
Bogdanovic and Justin James appeared to be headed to Milwaukee earlier this week in exchange for Donte DiVincenzo, Ersan Ilyasova and D.J. Wilson. That deal fell apart Thursday with one source telling The Bee “there is no deal” and “there was never a deal.”
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported Thursday the NBA has opened an
investigation into the failed deal.
The agreement was first reported Monday night by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, four days before Bogdanovic could agree to the terms of a new contract as part of any sign-and-trade deal. Bogdanovic now plans to enter the market as a restricted free agent Friday to seek other offers and sign-and-trade scenarios. Players can’t sign contracts until the moratorium is lifted Sunday at 12:01 p.m. ET.
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said the timing of the trade news caused an uproar among NBA executives. Windhorst went on to say some suspect the apparent unraveling of the agreement might actually be an attempt to salvage the trade.
“This is the most obvious case of tampering in history because it’s three days before free agency even opens and we have the two sides announcing a signand-trade,” Windhorst said on ESPN. “The outcry from executives was crazy over the last 48 hours, so there’s a whole bunch of people in the league who believe that this could be a bit of a machination, that this could be something to prevent the league from voiding this deal, not allowing it to happen, to all of a sudden say, ‘Hey, there’s no deal,’ and then by Sunday, maybe, ‘We have a deal.’ ”