Domantas Sabonis has agreed to a five-year, $217 million contract extension with the Sacramento Kings, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal includes $195 million in new money, with the remaining $22 million coming from his original 2023-24 salary. The Kings used the CBA's rarely-invoked renegotiate-and-extend mechanic which allows teams with cap space to give their players an immediate raise as part of the extension. This new deal will give Sabonis an extra $15 million or so this season, taking his salary from $22 million to above $37 million this season.
Sabonis, acquired at the 2022 trade deadline in a deal for Tyrese Haliburton, earned All-NBA honors for Sacramento last season as he led the Kings to their first postseason since 2006. He averaged 19.1 points, 12.3 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game for the Kings last season, who earned the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference before bowing out in the first round against the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
The Kings initially set the stage for this deal by trading backup center Richaun Holmes and the No. 24 overall pick on draft night to create roughly $36 million in cap space. There was widespread speculation that they would use that space to pursue a deal with Draymond Green, the Warriors forward who was suspended for stomping on Sabonis' chest in the playoffs.
Green ultimately remained with the Warriors, and the Kings used their space relatively conservatively. They acquired Indiana Pacers guard Chris Duarte and signed EuroLeague MVP Sasha Vezenkof, but have otherwise emphasized taking care of their own players. They re-signed forwards Harrison Barnes and Trey Lyles, and now, they've locked up Sabonis for the foreseeable future.
