Sacramento enlivened the transfer window festival by attracting DeMar DeRozan in his nets, a big shot supposed to allow the team to Mike Brown to reach a new milestone, even if it meant parting ways with Harrison Barnes in the process. But it was on another nice move that Domantas Sabonis was invited to speak: the extension of Malik Monk.
He was also highly sought after, and he could probably have found a contract with a few million more by looking elsewhere. But the Kings' rearguard chose stability by signing a nice four-year deal for $78 million.
During his visit to Rocklin, a suburb of Sacramento, to participate in a basketball camp, the Lithuanian pivot was delighted with the choice of his teammate, recalling the importance he could have within the Kings' system. “I was actually very surprised.”, he confided about Malik Monk's contract extension. “I talked to him a lot during the year, and I really thought we were going to lose him. But I'm glad he stayed. I think it's the best decision, for him and for us.”
The ideal environment
With his scoring abilities, Malik Monk has perfectly blended into the collective, managing to shine alongside the Fox-Sabonis tandem by bringing real added value to the back positions. Since arriving in Sacramento in 2022, he has become one of the best sixth men in the league. He even narrowly missed out on second place in the ranking last season, a few votes behind Naz Reid (342 points against 352).
The player found his place, and the Kings were able to get the most out of his potential, that's an argument that probably weighed in Malik Monk's choice. Environment matters in the NBA, and he didn't have the assurance of finding one of the same quality when he left. Unless it was for another reason?
“I just think it's because he didn't want to leave me. That's the main reason,” Domantas Sabonis says ironically. “I'm happy to have him here. He's one of the most important players in our team. It's helped us a lot in recent years to have him with us, on and off the pitch.”
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| De'aaron Fox | 74 | 35.9 | 46.5 | 36.9 | 73.8 | 0.9 | 3.7 | 4.6 | 5.6 | 2.6 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 26.6 |
| Domantas Sabonis | 82 | 35.7 | 59.4 | 37.9 | 70.4 | 3.6 | 10.1 | 13.7 | 8.2 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 3.0 | 19.4 |
| Malik Monk | 72 | 26.0 | 44.3 | 35.0 | 82.9 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 2.9 | 5.1 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 15.4 |
| Keegan Murray | 77 | 33.6 | 45.4 | 35.8 | 83.1 | 1.4 | 4.1 | 5.5 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 2.7 | 15.2 |
| Harrison Barnes | 82 | 29.0 | 47.4 | 38.7 | 80.1 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 3.0 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 12.2 |
| Kevin Huerter | 64 | 24.4 | 44.3 | 36.1 | 76.6 | 0.6 | 2.9 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 10.2 |
| Trey Lyles | 58 | 20.0 | 44.5 | 38.4 | 70.0 | 1.1 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 | 7.2 |
| Keon Ellis | 57 | 17.2 | 46.1 | 41.7 | 74.3 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 5.4 |
| Sasha Vezenkov | 42 | 12.2 | 44.0 | 37.5 | 80.0 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 5.4 |
| Davion Mitchell | 72 | 15.3 | 45.2 | 36.1 | 71.4 | 0.3 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 5.3 |
| Javale Mcgee | 46 | 7.4 | 59.8 | 14.3 | 57.8 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 2.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 4.0 |
| Chris Duarte | 59 | 12.2 | 38.1 | 34.6 | 78.8 | 0.4 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 3.9 |
| Alex Len | 48 | 9.3 | 61.7 | 0.0 | 58.8 | 1.0 | 1.7 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 1.4 | 2.5 |
| Colby Jones | 30 | 6.4 | 39.4 | 9.1 | 54.5 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 2.1 |
| Jordan Ford | 6 | 3.6 | 57.1 | 66.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Kessler Edwards | 54 | 5.1 | 41.5 | 38.5 | 55.6 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.7 |
| Filip Petrusev | 2 | 3.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 |
| Mason Jones | 5 | 5.5 | 25.0 | 28.6 | 50.0 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.4 |
| Jalen Slawson | 12 | 3.1 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Juan Toscano-Anderson | 11 | 4.8 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 0.6 |
