Sunday afternoon, word begin to break that the Atlanta Hawks had agreed to an offer sheet with Sacramento Kings free agent wing Bogdan Bogdanovic. The Kings then had 48 hours to decide whether to match what is reportedly a four-year, $72 million sheet sent over by Atlanta.
News broke Tuesday evening that the Kings reportedly elected not to match the offer sheet sent by the Hawks, Atlanta will now officially have the shooting guard in the fold.
The Sacramento Kings have declined to match the Atlanta Hawks’ four-year, $72 million offer sheet for restricted free agent guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 25, 2020
Shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, the Hawks officially announced the signing of Bogdanovic, who will wear No. 13 in Atlanta.
“Bogdan has a great feel for the game, and we expect him to be a great fit for us with his high-level offensive skill set, experience and toughness,” said Hawks President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Travis Schlenk. “It’s no secret that one of our biggest areas of focus in free agency was adding shooting and quality depth. With Bogdan as part of our incoming group, we feel those are now areas of strength.”
The addition of Bogdanovic follows the recent acquisitions of Danillo Gallinari, Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn for the Hawks. Matching the offer sheet was a possibility for Sacramento, who may have been looking for a trade for shooting guard Buddy Hield, who received a big extension not too long ago, to create room for Bogdanovic.
The contract will reportedly include a fourth-year player option, leaving Bogdanovic under contract with the Hawks through the 2023-24 season, with the ability to opt out after 2022-23. In addition, Keith Smith reports Bogdanovic’s salary is a flat $18 million per season.
Bogdanovic averaged 15.1 points last season, and a career high 7.2 three-point attempts per game. He is a competent defender, and will represent one of the better two-way players on the roster. He also averaged 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists in the backcourt for Sacramento in 2019-20.
At 28 and making $18 million annually, Bogdanovic projects to slot into the starting two-guard role beside Trae Young in Atlanta’s backcourt. Young and Collins may now be the only two starters who are retaining their jobs from last season. Gallinari projects to draw at least some starts, potentially over De’Andre Hunter and/or Cam Reddish, and obviously Collins and Clint Capela are locks to hold down prominent spots in the frontcourt when healthy.
The Hawks now are essentially out of cap space, with 15 players on the roster — and second round pick Skylar Mays on a Two-Way contract — for 2020 after the flurry of moves. Stay tuned.
