{"id":78098,"date":"2025-12-02T12:17:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T12:17:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/78098\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T12:17:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T12:17:12","slug":"teams-could-pursue-kings-zach-lavine-if-he-declines-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/78098\/","title":{"rendered":"Teams could pursue Kings\u2019 Zach LaVine if he declines option"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-98204\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/lavine0408-e1744090204516.jpg\" alt=\"Zach LaVine, Kings, NBA\" width=\"696\" height=\"391\"  \/>File photo<\/p>\n<p>The Zach LaVine watch in Sacramento is officially on, and the rumblings are starting to sound like a Friday night garage band warming up.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/1LCOowNMP8c?si=X3yh3wyZ6CdrLjLw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA insider Marc Stein<\/a> says teams are already poking around on the Kings guard, but only if LaVine is willing to do something he\u2019s never done: decline that massive $48.9 million player option for 2026-27 and take a longer, cheaper deal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf he was willing to decline the option and take a longer-term extension at a lesser number,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/1LCOowNMP8c?si=X3yh3wyZ6CdrLjLw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stein said<\/a>, \u201cI think there would be some trade interest in Zach LaVine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s where things get messy.<\/p>\n<p>LaVine is making $47.5 million this season. He\u2019s putting up good numbers \u2014 20.7 points on 49% shooting \u2014 but the Kings <a href=\"https:\/\/hoopswire.com\/nba-standings-for-dec-2\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">are 5-16<\/a> and sinking.<\/p>\n<p>League sources <a href=\"https:\/\/hoopswire.com\/kings-gm-desperately-seeking-zach-lavine-trade-per-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">told DallasHoopsJournal<\/a> that GM Scott Perry \u201cdesperately\u201d wants to move him, frustrated by LaVine\u2019s defense and overall buy-in. Coach Doug Christie hasn\u2019t exactly been thrilled either.<\/p>\n<p>This all comes one year after Sacramento traded for LaVine in the De\u2019Aaron Fox blockbuster. Perry wasn\u2019t a fan of the move then, and sources say he\u2019s definitely not one now.<\/p>\n<p>LaVine has been in the playoffs once. He\u2019s 30. He\u2019s expensive. And if you listen closely, you can hear the Kings quietly sliding veterans onto the rebuild shelf.<\/p>\n<p>Teams sniffing around? The Bucks have already done their homework, per <a href=\"https:\/\/hoopswire.com\/bucks-linked-to-kings-zach-lavine-celtics-anfernee-simons\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HoopsHype\u2019s Michael Scotto<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>February is coming. Sacramento wants out. And the only question now is whether LaVine wants out badly enough to leave $48.9 million on the table to make it happen.<\/p>\n<p>Looking for the latest NBA Insider News &amp; Rumors?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Be sure to follow <a style=\"color: #ff6a14;\" href=\"https:\/\/hoopswire.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hoops Wire<\/a> on <a style=\"color: #ff6a14;\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wirehoops\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">TWITTER<\/a>\u00a0and <a style=\"color: #ff6a14;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hoopswire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">FACEBOOK<\/a>\u00a0for breaking NBA News and Rumors for all 30 teams!<\/p>\n<p>        <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"File photo The Zach LaVine watch in Sacramento is officially on, and the rumblings are starting to sound&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[7002,5802,121,123,122,44971,5805],"class_list":{"0":"post-78098","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-deaaron-fox","9":"tag-doug-christie","10":"tag-sacramento","11":"tag-sacramento-headlines","12":"tag-sacramento-news","13":"tag-scott-perry","14":"tag-zach-lavine"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78098","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=78098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}