Kings not extending the qualifying offer to Ben McLemore

Jordan Goins
Jun 28, 2017
1 min read

It was reported today by Chris Haynes of ESPN that the Sacramento Kings have declined to extend the qualifying offer to Ben McLemore, making him an unrestricted free agent.

McLemore, a 24-year old shooting guard, spent all four of his NBA seasons in Sacramento after being drafted by the Kings in 2013 with the seventh overall pick. McLemore was the first player selected in the Vivek-era of Kings basketball. Despite flashes of his potential at times, McLemore never fully lived up to the hype surrounded by him coming out of Kansas University.

Ben averaged 9.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 293 games with the Kings while shooting 41.7% from the field and just 35.2% from three-point range. One of his greatest achievements so far in the NBA was winning the Rookie of the Month Award in November of 2013.

McLemore's best season to date was the 2014-15 NBA season, his second in the league, under three different head coaches (Michael Malone, Tyrone Corbin, & George Karl), where he played and started in all 82-regular season games for the team. During that season, McLemore averaged 12.1 points in 35.7 minutes on 43.7% shooting. Though his offensive numbers were somewhat solid, he was perhaps more known that season to be one of the team's best defenders.

There has already been interest amongst other teams for Ben McLemore. According to Legion Hoops, the Philadelphia 76ers are one of those teams.