Sacramento Kings announced on Thursday that they have picked up the fourth-year option on De’Aaron Fox’s rookie contract and third-year option on Marvin Bagley’s rookie deal. The news was confirmed by Kings’ general manager Vlade Divac.
Kings also made the decision not to pick up fourth-year options on Caleb Swanigan and Harry Giles’s contract. While not exercising Swanigan’s option was understandable, given his lack of production, passing on Giles was unexpected.
Despite his struggles with injuries, Giles was coming off an encouraging 2018/19 season in which he averaged 7.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists while playing 58 games.
According to sources close to the Kings’ organization, the team still has long term plans for Harry Giles and is focused on his development. Despite this, Sacramento felt that the $4 million option was too much for a player with a long history of serious injuries.
Giles, who was selected 20th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, missed his entire rookie season due to concerns about his knees, on which he had surgeries while being prep athlete. This year, he missed the summer league and training camp due to a quad contusion and is yet to make an appearance in the regular season due to soreness in his knee.
Both Swanigan and Giles will be unrestricted free agents next summer.
