Giles, Bazemore bolt for greener pastures

The Kings lost two fan favorites on Sunday as both Harry Giles and Kent Bazemore will be wearing another team’s colors next season.

Giles, the injury-prone, but beloved young center has agreed to a one-year deal with the Portland Trailblazers reportedly for the minimum. He will be given a chance to prove his worth in the league as starter Jusuf Nurkic’s backup.

In 104 games with the Kings, Giles averaged 7.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists. It was his passing that set him out from the rest. His court vision and ability to get the ball to his teammates for easy dunks was rather Chris Webber-like.

His positive attitude and desire to interact with the fan base just sealed the deal as an all-time favorite Sacramento King within the community.

However, his surgically reconstructed knees and a question of dedication to fitness have been huge red flags for the front office fthroughout his NBA career. We’ll see if he can turn things around in Rip City and be the prospect everyone predicted he could be.

Bazemore accepted a one-year deal to return to his first NBA team in Golden State. With the recent injury to All-Star Klay Thompson, Baze is likely to have a significant role on the imbalanced Warriors’ roster.

In 25 games with Sac following his mid-season trade from Portland, Bazemore experienced a resurgence in his career, averaging 10.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.3 assists. He helped shore up the Kings’ lack of defense at the wing and was well-liked all around for his veteran work ethic.

With Sacramento clearly needing more defensive wing help, it was believed that Kent would be brought back, but apparently the $2.3 million and the promise of substantial minutes to return to the Bay Area was just too appealing.

So here we stand. Sacramento has lost Giles, Bazemore, and likely Bogdanovic. The addition of first-round pick Tyrese Haliburton and a couple second-round picks with no other significant moves to date shows that the direction of the Kings is looking like they want to contract, reset and poke their heads out of their hole in another year or two. Guess we’ll just have to be patient some more.