Report: Kings to guarantee Delly, KZ contracts for rest of season originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The Kings made a handful of roster moves ahead of their matchup against the rival Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday at Golden 1 Center.
Sacramento reportedly plans to guarantee the contracts of guard Matthew Dellavedova and forward KZ Okpala for the rest of the season, per NBA reporters Marc Spears and Michael Scotto. Additionally, the Kings placed 27-year-old forward Chima Moneke on waivers Friday.
The league-wide deadline to either guarantee contracts for the rest of the season or waive players on non-guaranteed deals is Tuesday. Sacramento now has an open roster spot with the Feb. 9 trade deadline about five weeks away.
Okpala signed a two-year contract with the Kings this summer after spending time with coach Mike Brown and assistant Jordi Fernandez playing for the Nigerian national team. He started the first three games of the Kings’ regular season at power forward until Brown deemed rookie Keegan Murray ready for a starting role. Okpala has appeared in 25 games this season, mostly as a defensive specialist, and is averaging 1.5 points and 1.2 rebounds in 7.8 minutes per contest.
Dellavedova returned to the NBA this season on a one-year deal with Sacramento after spending last year in Australia. Dellavedova, whose career overlapped with Brown on the 2013-14 Cleveland Cavaliers, has appeared in 15 games this season, mostly appearing in blowouts with bigger roles in the three games guard De’Aaron Fox missed due to injuries.
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Moneke, a UC-Davis product, made his NBA debut Oct. 27 and scored the first bucket of his career on Nov. 17. Those were his only two appearances with Sacramento this season. He was averaging 17.6 points and 11.3 rebounds per game for the G League Stockton Kings.
Sacramento returns to the floor at 7 p.m. Saturday to face the rival Lakers for the third time this season. Tune in to NBC Sports California for “Kings Pregame Live” at 6:30 p.m.