The Sacramento Kings have made it official:
KINGS REACH AGREEMENT IN PRINCIPLE WITH CHUCK HAYES
SACRAMENTO, CA —- The Sacramento Kings tonight have reached an agreement in principle with free agent center/forward Chuck Hayes to a multi-year contract, according to Kings’ President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Rumors have persisted throughout the evening that the Kings would bring Hayes back after voiding his contract due to an apparent heart condition. Sports Illustrated’s Sam Amick has tweeted the preliminary figures and plenty of other information that should set Kings fans at ease following one of the most bizarre weeks any NBA player has ever had.
Regarding Kings voiding Hayes’ contract, they had window of 6 days to void deal & couldn’t risk being on hook for $21 mil if 2nd opinion bad. They played this perfectly, alerting Hayes to problem (he does have enlarged heart) & advising him to have more tests done b4 reconvening.
So long story short, Hayes had a heart condition serious enough to warrant a second look from some of the country’s best cardiovascular experts. Up against a deadline to either risk $21-million on a player who might never play again or void his contract, the Kings did the prudent thing in nullifying Hayes’ deal. The Cleveland Clinic then took testing to another level. That second opinion deemed Hayes healthy enough to compete at the NBA without risk, and the Kings responded by reportedly offering Hayes a similar new deal with a million dollars extra for his trouble.
Tomorrow, we will have Dr. Steven Nissen, head of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic on the Cowbell Kingdom Podcast. Hopefully he can shed more light on the mysterious “outpouching, or a bulge in the wall, in his left ventricle” that the Sacramento Bee’s Jason Jones and Grace Rubenstein wrote about earlier today.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
