Kings’ Terence Davis will reject qualifying offer

All it took was a future second-round draft pick for Kings general manager Monte McNair to acquire Terence Davis at the NBA trade deadline, but keeping him will be a lot more costly.

Davis plans to turn down a $1.9 million qualifying offer from the Kings in order to become a restricted free agent, a league source told The Sacramento Bee. The 24-year-old guard will be seeking a new contract worth about $9 million per year, which would be slightly higher than the four-year, $34.6 million deal De’Anthony Melton signed with the Memphis Grizzlies in November.

The Kings have until Aug. 1 — the day before free agency begins — to extend a qualifying offer to Davis or he will become an unrestricted free agent. If the Kings tender a qualifying offer and Davis rejects it, he will enter restricted free agency, giving Sacramento the right to match any offer he receives.

The Kings might be reluctant to match the kind of offer Davis is looking for given their current salary cap constraints, but the projected $9.5 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception could provide some flexibility. Under the Gilbert Arenas provision in the collective bargaining agreement, the first year of any offer sheet for Davis cannot exceed the value of the mid-level exception.

The Kings acquired Davis in exchange for a second-round pick in a March 25 trade with the Toronto Raptors. He averaged 11.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 27 games, carving out a key role as a reserve for coach Luke Walton while helping the Kings get back into play-in contention. Davis bolstered Sacramento’s bench and demonstrated his explosive scoring ability on multiple occasions, including two 27-point games.

He also provided defense and rebounding, helping the Kings improve two of their biggest weaknesses.

Davis felt he was a good fit in Sacramento and expressed a desire to stay when asked about his future with the Kings at the end of the season.

“It’s definitely looking like that,” he said. “It’s looking really good for me. I would say this is some of the best basketball I’ve played in my career, even in college. This is a stretch of some of the best games I’ve played in my entire life.”

Davis went undrafted out of Ole Miss in 2019, but he emerged as an NBA AllRookie Second Team selection after averaging 7.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists for the Raptors in 2019-20. His playing time and production dipped last season while he dealt with allegations of domestic violence. Most of the charges against Davis were later dismissed. He said the trade to Sacramento gave him an opportunity for a “fresh, clean start.”