RENO – Royce White is returning to Sacramento.
The 22-year-old forward will not be traveling to Boise with the Reno Bighorns, who take on the Idaho Stampede Friday and Saturday. Instead, White is heading back to the capital city to finish off the remainder of his 10-day contract.
White won’t be joining the Kings on the road, either. The 22-year-old forward is expected to spend the next few days working out with Kings basketball operations staff in Sacramento while the team finishes off a season-high seven-game road trip. His current deal expires on Saturday, but it is largely expected that the Kings will re-sign him to another 10-day contract ahead of their upcoming four-game homestand, which begins next Tuesday.
“We’ll see,” White said when asked if his game is where he wants it to be in regards to NBA competition. “It’s gonna take for me to get out there again with those guys and figure out what that looks like. Right now, I’m ready to play. I’m always ready to play, always want to play, but we’ll see. May have some things that I have to work on again after I evaluate it at that level.”
White played four games for the Bighorns, averaging 8.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.5 turnovers in roughly 25 minutes per contest. He tallied 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, three assists, three steals and no turnovers in his final game in Reno Wednesday evening, a 120-110 win over the Iowa Energy.
“I believe it was an absolute success for what the Kings wanted to see,” Bighorns head coach Joel Abelson said of White’s assignment in Reno. “The Kings wanted to see if the guy could play. He can play. They wanted to see if the guy could fit in with his teammates. He absolutely did – they love him. And he was totally on time, he was appropriate, he was ready to go at all times. He was perfect, so absolutely (his stint was successful).”
White was selected 16th overall by the Houston Rockets in the 2012 NBA Draft, but has yet to play in a regular season contest. The Rockets traded White last summer to the Philadelphia 76ers, who waived him before the start of the season. He’s had a highly chronicled battle with anxiety disorder, which so far has hindered his aspirations of a career in the NBA.
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