Kings sign Brewer as they resume season
The Sacramento Kings brought back a highenergy veteran wing Tuesday to fill out their roster as they prepare to resume the 2019-20 NBA season following the coronavirus shutdown.
General manager Vlade Divac announced the Kings signed Corey Brewer, welcoming back a player who spent the end of the 2018-19 season in Sacramento. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but a league source told The Sacramento Bee the team signed Brewer for the rest of the season.
Sources indicated Monday the Kings planned to bring Brewer back to Sacramento. They announced the deal on the first day of the NBA’s special one-week transaction window, which began at 9 a.m. Tuesday. Brewer chose the Kings over other potential suitors after receiving multiple offers, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Brewer is expected to join the Kings in Sacramento, where players were scheduled to start undergoing COVID-19 testing Tuesday. The Kings will train in Sacramento for two weeks before NBA teams converge on Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, where the NBA plans to resume play July 30.
Brewer, 34, is a 6-foot-9 wing who spent the end of the 2018-19 season with the Kings, appearing in 24 games. He averaged 4.1 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 14.7 minutes per contest.
The Kings signed Brewer to two 10-day contracts in February 2019 and eventually signed him for the rest of the season. Brewer gave the team a defensive spark and a smiling presence in the locker room. The Kings had a roster spot to
fill and Brewer has provided quality depth for them in the past.
“It’s a perfect situation, being a wing and being with this young team,” Brewer said upon signing with the Kings in 2019. “The way they like to play, get up and down, is the way I like to play, and they’re trying to make the playoffs, and to me that’s what it’s all about.”
The Minnesota Timberwolves selected Brewer with the seventh pick in the 2007 NBA Draft. Over 12 NBA seasons, Brewer has also played for the Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers.
Brewer has appeared in 814 career games, averaging 8.7 points, 2.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals. He has never averaged more than 13 points per game, but he poured in a career-high 51 points for the Timberwolves in a 112-110 victory over the Houston Rockets on April 11, 2014. He joined Michael Jordan, Allen Iverson and Rick Barry as the only players to post 50 points and six steals in one game.
The Kings are one of 22 teams preparing to resume play after the NBA season was suspended
March 11 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Games will be played at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Disney World, about 20 miles outside Orlando.
Players were scheduled to begin regular COVID-19 testing Tuesday as teams prepare to converge on Florida, where coronavirus cases have soared over the past two weeks. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported NBA teams are bracing for a significant number of positive tests, noting four players from one Western Conference playoff team tested positive in the past few weeks.
Wojnarowski later reported Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic tested positive for the coronavirus last week in Serbia. Sources told ESPN Jokic has been asymptomatic and is expected to be cleared to return to
Denver within a week. Nuggets coach Michael Malone, who coached the Kings in 2013-14, recently revealed he contracted the coronavirus in March, shortly after the season was suspended.
The NBA will allow each team to take 17 players to Florida. Brewer fills Sacramento’s 15th roster spot. The Kings will also take two-way players DaQuan Jeffries and Kyle Guy.