Washington Wizards: Free Agent Options, Kings Guard Ben McLemore

Washington Wizards’ main priority this offseason will be revamping their bench this offseason. There are plenty of options available. Is Kings guard Ben McLemore an option?

While it seems like every team besides the Wizards has been wheeling and dealing, Washington has remained patient, instead waiting for the start of free agency on July 1st. The team did trade for Pelicans guard Tim Frazier the night before the draft, in an effort to shore up the back up point guard duties. Still, the team will need to make more moves to improve the second worst scoring bench in the NBA last season.

We looked at the possibility of the team signing Ian Clark before. What about Kings guard Ben McLemore? McLemore, the 7th overall pick in the 2013 draft, will not be returning to Sacramento, ESPN’s Chris Haynes reported on Wednesday.

Sacramento Kings to decline extending qualifying offer to Ben McLemore and he'll become unrestricted free agent, league sources tell ESPN.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) June 28, 2017

With Sacramento rebuilding (again), it always seemed likely McLemore would be an unrestricted free agent. Still, it’s rather rare for top-10 picks to not be extended the qualifying offer. We almost always see these players enter free agency as a restricted free agent, but Sacramento decided against going that route.

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McLemore, still only 24, came out of Kansas in 2013 with a ton of promise. Draft Express noted his strengths included his athleticism (42 inch vertical) and shooting range (42% from three in college). Coming out of college one year after Bradley Beal, he was compared to Beal because of his size and playing style.

He had additional similarities to Beal, including that he only played one year of basketball in college and is from St. Louis. In fact, McLemore played AAU with Beal growing up, and could enjoy reuniting that connection.

Now obviously McLemore hasn’t lived up to his high draft stock, but then again, most Kings players haven’t. In the NBA, he only averaged over 9 points per game in one season, in his sophomore season. That season he scored 12.1 points per game on 43% shooting.

But what about the other seasons? McLemore averaged 8.8 points per game his rookie year, 7.8 his third, and 8.1 last season. His career shooting percentage of 41.7% shooting and 35.2% on threes certainly leaves a lot to be desired.

Ben McLemore’s career arc is almost the exact opposite of Ian Clark’s. He was highly touted in high school and college, a lottery pick, but his stock dropped almost every year in the NBA. The Kings, despite their proximity to The Bay, certainly aren’t the Golden State Warriors.

Still, McLemore has promise as a bench piece on a good team. His shot at being the lead guard on a playoff team is behind him, but he surely will look forward to being part of a functional organization. Assuming he signs with a playoff team, he would be tasked with making shots off the bench, and it would be someone else’s job to create for him.

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For this reason, he will be worth a look for the Wizards, especially if the team doesn’t resign restricted free agent Bojan Bogdanovic. It’s still unknown what kind of contract McLemore may be looking at. Young teams with a ton of cap space, like the Brooklyn Nets or Philadelphia 76ers, may take a chance on the 24-year-old, hoping he begins to flash some of his potential. Meanwhile, championship level teams could see his as a nice 9th or 10th man off the bench.

Although he has a career average of only 9.4 points per game, playing in D.C. could give him an opportunity to thrive. Besides his familiarity with Bradley Beal, McLemore would surely benefit from playing alongside John Wall. Wall has a long history of helping to improve the play of his shooting guards and small forwards, including Trevor Ariza and Martell Webster.

Here’s a list of the point guards McLemore has played with in his 4 years in the NBA:

Isaiah Thomas (Kings IT)

No offense to those guys, but they can’t match up with Wall’s passing and playmaking. No longer would McLemore be expected to create all the offense for himself and others when on the court.

Looking at some positives from McLemore’s career thus far, his three-point shooting percentage has increased each season. In 2016-17 he shot 38.2% on three-point attempts.

McLemore scored his career high of 31 points his rookie year, back on April 16th, 2014 against Phoenix, and a career high of six three-point makes on February 10th of 2017 against Atlanta.

He’s been pretty healthy in his career, so the new team won’t have to worry about big injury concerns. Of course the Wizards bench struggled in a variety of ways this season, but shooting and athleticism were two of the biggest needs. Taking a flier on McLemore wouldn’t be the worst decision, but we’ll have to see how the other dominoes fall.

According to the Washington Post, if the Wizards don’t resign Bojan, the team will have around $5.2 million of the mid-level exception left, putting them in line for players like Thabo Sefolosha and Luc Mbah a Moute. Considering those two have been starters in recent years, and bring a specific skillset (defense) it’s reasonable to think McLemore can be had for less.

Next: Is D.C. a Viable Landing Spot for Carmelo Anthony?

Because of the tight cap situation the Wizards find themselves in, a move like this for an underperforming piece may be their best shot at hitting in free agency.

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