The Sacramento Kings are close to buying out guard Jimmer Fredette’s contract. Both sides hope to close the deal by the end of the week. Fredette becomes a free agent if he clears waivers.
The Kings tried to trade Fredette before the trade deadline, but were unable to do so. Fredette was the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA draft. He’s averaging 5.9 points per game while shooting 47.5 percent from the floor and 49.3 percent from three-point range this season, according to the Associated Press. He has a career average of seven points, 1.5 assists, and 1.1 rebounds with a shooting percentage of 41.6.
In his three-year NBA career Fredette has struggled to perform with the Kings. Rookie guards Ben McLemore and Ray McCallum have been given more playing time since the Marcus Thornton trade. It is surprising that Fredette hasn’t performed very well during his three-years with the Kings because he was an outstanding college player at BYU. He scored 2,599 points while at BYU and was college basketball’s player of the year in 2011, according to Yahoo Sports, which first reported the story. As a senior he led the nation in scoring with 28.5 points per game and led BYU to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.
Before this season the Kings decided not to pick up Fredette’s option for 2014-15. Several teams are expected to be interested in Fredette. It will be interesting to see where Fredette ends up and if he can perform like he did at BYU with his new team.