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2022 Free Agents - Trey Lyles

Summary
Despite starting a number of games for the Spurs in the '19-'20 season, Lyles's minutes went down in '20-'21, but went back up again during his time with Detroit and Sacramento in '21-'22.. Lyles struggles on defense, and doesn't hit enough shots at the other end to make up for his defensive deficiencies, which are elevated by the fact that Lyles is strictly a four - not quick enough to guard wings and not big enough to provide rim protection. Lyles has shown some growth in attacking off the catch when defenses run him off the three-point line, but still needs improvement in that area to be more than just a spot-up threat.

I think Lyles can provide serviceable minutes during the regular season, but you probably don't want him to be anything more than your 9th or 10th man, and I would be surprised if he ever became someone that a team could trust in the playoffs. The Kings may end up keeping Lyles since his option is not that much above the minimum and they may not need the space anyway, but I would be surprised if Lyles showed to actually be worth more than the minimum.
 
Cap Considerations
Lyles has a $2.6 million team option for 2022-2023, and if the Kings decline that option he will be an unrestricted free agent with a $3 million cap hold and Non-Bird rights. Using his Non-Bird rights, the most the Kings could offer him is a starting salary of $3 million. If this wasn't enough and the Kings wanted him back, they simply wouldn't decline the option in the first place, but technically speaking they could also use their MLE or BAE to re-sign Lyles if necessary.

Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Lyles as even teams without cap space could possibly use the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or possibly even the Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. There's also a chance that he could be signed with a minimum contract.

Potential Teams: Kings, Bulls, Timberwolves, Nets, Pacers

Predicted Contract: Opt-In: $2.6 million
If opt out: 1-year, $2.4 million ($1.8 million cap hit) with the Bulls

Actual Contract: Opt-In: $2.6 million
As expected, the Kings picked up their team option on Lyles for the '22-'23 season. They have a lot of bigs on the roster, but Lyles should retain decent value at this amount.

Last updated: 6/28/2022

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