{"id":394324,"date":"2026-07-11T03:31:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:31:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394324\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T03:31:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T03:31:18","slug":"kings-zach-lavine-picking-up-option-was-the-best-case-scenario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/394324\/","title":{"rendered":"Kings\u2019 Zach LaVine: Picking up option was the best-case scenario"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATELINE, NEVADA<\/p>\n

Zach LaVine evaluated possible career paths this summer but decided to pick up his player option to return to the Sacramento Kings without a long-term deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into it, I think it was the best-case scenario for me,\u201d LaVine told The Sacramento Bee after finishing his first round at the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe on Friday. \u201cBeing able to pick up the option, obviously we could have done some other things, with the Kings or with somebody else. But it made sense to come back, and I\u2019m looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaVine picked up the option June 29<\/a> to make $49 million for 2026-27 with a chance at unrestricted free agency next summer. He\u2019ll also be a trade candidate on his large, expiring contract.<\/p>\n

But LaVine picking up the option means Sacramento doesn\u2019t have much financial flexibility with LaVine and center Domantas Sabonis making $94 million combined in 2025-26. The Kings are roughly $6 million below the first apron after going 22-60 last season.<\/p>\n

The 31-year-old shooting guard confirmed there had been discussions between his agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports and other teams about their interest in a multi-year deal, but ultimately they determined to come back to Sacramento despite the Kings being in the earliest stages of a roster-wide rebuild centered on younger players.<\/p>\n

\"The The Sacramento Kings\u2019 Zach LaVine shoots a basketball before getting to the 18th tee as former NFL quarterback Derek Carr reacts during the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Stateline, Nev., on Friday. JOS\u00c9 LUIS VILLEGAS jvillegas@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Both LaVine and Kings general manager Scott Perry have said the communication has been positive between the two sides despite being at an apparent crossroads.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you guys know Scott just as well as I do. Come in ready to play,\u201d LaVine said. \u201c\u2018You do your thing. Obviously, Zach, if you come in and do what you\u2019re supposed to do, we\u2019re going to be in a very good spot as a team.\u2019 So I\u2019m ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Perry last week: \u201cWe have a very good relationship, good understanding. Zach is still an excellent basketball player. He knows what\u2019s expected of him coming back this year. I\u2019m very clear with him on that. He\u2019ll be the first to tell you that. I think he\u2019s ready to come back and embrace that, perform to the best of his ability this year. So we can use a lot of the things that Zach LaVine is able to do on the basketball floor, so I\u2019m looking forward to him taking a step forward with us this year, with how we want to play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

LaVine had surgery to repair a torn tendon in his hand around the All-Star break in February and appeared in just 39 games. He averaged 31.4 minutes per game, the fewest since 2017-18 with the Minnesota Timberwolves. He averaged 19.2 points while shooting 39% from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

LaVine said he\u2019s been healthy since the offseason began and took up golf the last few weeks to prepare for this week\u2019s tournament at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course. He was unhappy with his wedge play and finished the first round with negative-8 points in the Modified Stableford format, tied for 66th in the 90-player field.<\/p>\n

LaVine is entering a contract year for the third time in his career. He entered restricted free agency with Minnesota in 2017-18. He signed an offer sheet with the Kings before returning to Minnesota. And he later played a contract year with the Chicago Bulls in 2021-22 before signing the five-year, $215 million contract that\u2019s expiring after next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m healthy, I\u2019ve always performed at the level I expect myself to,\u201d LaVine said. \u201cLast year, I didn\u2019t perform the way I wanted to. I started off and I was very prepared for the year, and obviously we had some injuries and the way we played … we had a little turning point during the season. It was a little frustrating on my end, especially with how prepared I was coming into the season. But that\u2019s basketball. Obviously I got injured. I\u2019ve played on two contract years. It\u2019s nothing different for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The turning point in the season was the Kings\u2019 deciding to prioritize developing young players, which came around the time LaVine was shut down with his hand injury. Sacramento ended up with the No. 7 pick they used on Arkansas point Darius Acuff Jr., whom many expect to become the face of the franchise.<\/p>\n

LaVine said he texted Acuff on draft night and has been impressed by what he\u2019s seen in the California Classic and Summer League games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kid\u2019s off the charts. I think he\u2019s the steal of the draft,\u201d LaVine said. \u201cBecause you see it from him in college, the way he moves, the way he presents himself, he\u2019s been an NBA-ready player for a while now. So get through Summer League, get used to all the bodies, the game speed, and then go to training camp and do the same thing in the preseason. He\u2019s a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published July 10, 2026 at 3:13 PM.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Biderman<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Chris Biderman covers sports and local news for The Sacramento Bee since joining in August 2018 to cover the San Francisco 49ers. He previously spent time with the Associated Press and USA Today Sports Media Group, and has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Athletic and on MLB.com. The Santa Rosa native graduated with a degree in journalism from the Ohio State University.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATELINE, NEVADA Zach LaVine evaluated possible career paths this summer but decided to pick up his player option…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":394325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-394324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/394325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}