National Basketball Association

Sacramento Kings: Examining Darren Collison's Future

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 2:12 p.m. ET

Fansided, Jordan Treske/FanSided via Hoops Habit

As he's set to become a free agent this upcoming offseason, what does the future hold for Darren Collison as part of the Sacramento Kings?

While the focus is still on the remainder of the season, this summer should prove to be a refreshing change of pace for the Sacramento Kings.

No longer will all questions related to DeMarcus Cousins and how they will attack the offseason in order to build a team around him hang over the Kings like they had in years past.

If the Cousins trade was made in order to wipe clean the proverbial slate, this offseason will give the Kings a chance to continue their burgeoning rebuild.

This year's draft will be paramount in adding premier talent, but free agency will theoretically help them by filling in the cracks within the team's roster.

With all that said, some key questions still stand within said roster and will have some impact on the team's offseason plans in major ways.

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Having missed the last two months of action after suffering a season-ending Achilles injury, Rudy Gay's decision on whether he'll pick up his player option for next season will be key in how much cap space the Kings will have to operate with.

Next to that in terms of importance is the upcoming free agency of the team's on-again, off-again starting point guard for the last three seasons, Darren Collison.

Since coming to Sacramento nearly three years ago, the journeyman point guard has gone on to have the best seasons of his eight-year career with the Kings and this year has proven to be no different.

In his 62 games this year, Collison is averaging 13.2 points per game on a 56.6 true shooting percentage as well as a career high 41.8 three-point percentage. Along with his scoring and shooting marks, Collison is averaging 4.5 assists per game and 2.2 rebounds per game.

For all the individual success that he's experienced during his time in Sacramento, there have obviously been plenty of difficulties as well.

Of course, team success has been elusive and the Kings' constant turnover has hit monstrous peaks throughout Collison's tenure. There's also Collison's domestic violence incident from last summer, for which he served an eight-game suspension at the start of the season this year.

Now set to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Collison's uncertain future in Sacramento comes at a critical point in his career. The reality is that Collison's future in Sacramento will very likely be tied to what they do in this year's draft.

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We obviously have no idea where the ping pong balls will fall for the Kings and there's also the issue of the possible pick swaps with both the Chicago Bulls and the Philadelphia 76ers made through various trades (though, the team's ongoing slide will help them in that matter).

No matter where they ultimately end up in the draft order, it's fair to say Collison doesn't seem to fit the Kings' new timeline at 29 years old (30 by the time next season starts).

Collison's already proven that he's, at worst, a serviceable starting point guard in the league and as he has during his time with the Los Angeles Clippers, he's a luxury to have off the bench.

Considering the team's woes, it'll be interesting to see how big of a desire to play for a winning organization will play into Collison's decision.

Conversely, how much of an effect his aforementioned off the court incident could have on interested teams around the league this summer will be something to watch for as well.

Whether the Kings will be one of those interested teams by the time free agency starts remains to be seen, but it's fair to wonder whether these next 11 games will be Collison's last in Sacramento.