The Sacramento King's offer to Darren Collison, which stands at $16 million for three years, is truly the worst deal this summer in the 2014 NBA Free agency. For a point guard who is a back up at best, $5 million a year is clearly too much especially if they could have used that money to resign an even better point guard which they already have in Isaiah Thomas.
Anyone can make the case that Jodie Meek's three-year, $19 million deal with the Detroit Pistons is a lot worse than Collison's deal with the Kings but in the context of building a team, Collison's signing is really shocking because it would mean that the Kings are willing to let restricted free agent Isaiah Thomas walk. Thomas certainly has weaknesses but Collison does not in any way offset them and he is no where near the caliber of Thomas, both in talent and production, who is clearly on the rise.
The dynamic, 24-year old point guard Isaiah Thomas is a free agent but the Kings, for whatever reason, aren't interested on signing him long term for an attractive deal that he clearly deserves after he averaged 20.3 points and 6.3 assists per game last season.
Thomas has a lot of NBA years left in him and has plenty of room to improve mostly in shot selection and defense but if he is worth around $8 - $9 million a year, which is just some $3 - $4 million higher than what Collison signed, its really baffling why the Kings wouldn't want him over Collison. Even if Thomas wanted a $10 million a year deal it would still be a better deal than that of Collison.
While Thomas stands only at 5'9″, what he lacks in height he makes up for his scoring and intensity. Collison has been bouncing around from one team to the next throughout his career. He lost his starting job with the Indiana Pacers to George Hill and was a disappointment in Dallas. And while he had a productive season in the Clippers as a back to Chris Paul, it didn't appear that there was a competitive market for the point guard with so many big names on the market this summer making this deal by the Kings even more bewildering.
Collision will never be an All-Star caliber player which is something that is in the realm of possibility with Isiah Thomas especially if he continues to improve. Why a rebuilding team like the Sacramento Kings would be willing to overpay a player like Collison over a potential budding star in Thomas is beyond reason and downright absurd making it truly the worst deal this offseason.
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