Milwaukee Bucks Rumors: Brook Lopez among Sacramento Kings targets

Add another team to the list of potential suitors for Milwaukee Bucks big man Brook Lopez as the Sacramento Kings reportedly have him on their center shortlist.

With the countdown to free agency ramping up significantly with just over a day to go, all indications suggest that Milwaukee Bucks center Brook Lopez will be very much in demand.

There have already been reports of interest in the veteran big man from the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets, while there’s good cause to believe a wide array of other teams could view him as a fit too.

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Now, according to a report from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst, the Sacramento Kings should be added to that list:

"“The Kings are interested in adding a center this offseason, and there’s space for them to do it even with re-signing Harrison Barnes. It would require them to move on from Willie Cauley-Stein, who wants that anyway, as his agent has asked the Kings to let him go.They’d potentially have the room to make an aggressive offer to Horford, but they have a number of the top centers on their list, sources said. In addition to Horford, the Kings could chase Brook Lopez and Nikola Vucevic. Lopez played for coach Luke Walton with the Lakers.”"

Mention of Lopez’s time playing under Luke Walton in the past certainly adds an interesting wrinkle to this particular rumor, and there can be no doubting that the Kings present as one of the more obvious teams to be targeting high profile centers this summer.

To that end, the Kings would be my personal guess of Al Horford‘s secret team, although if that proved not to be the case, Lopez would likely make for an even more logical target.

A full-four-year deal at a high rate for a center may not be the smartest move for Sacramento, given it could reduce the frontcourt opportunity for Marvin Bagley and Harry Giles. Perhaps Lopez could come in at less years and play something of a lesser role, but at its essence that screams out a scenario similar to when Walton and Lopez last worked together at the Lakers.

Considering just how well Lopez played last season and how much success he had with the Bucks, it’d be tough to imagine him trading that in for a leadership role on a young and rising team. Unless, of course, there was a truly significant disparity in salary offered.

The Kings certainly have the potential to create that kind of divide, but it’s hard to think it would be wise in Lopez’s case.

As things stand, Lopez’s return to the Bucks still seems like by far the most likely prospect. Milwaukee’s ability to open up meaningful cap space by offloading Tony Snell certainly pointed to that, while Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix has reported that both Lopez and the Bucks are “motivated to get a deal done.”

Next. Milwaukee Bucks: 5 big men to target in free agency. dark

Until the ink is dry, there will remain an element of uncertainty, though, and the financial freedom at Sacramento’s disposal certainly makes them something of a wild card in this particular free agency story.

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