When the Kings made their flurry of trades in February, they wound up with a roster full of players whose contracts expire this summer.
That number is five: Bobby Jackson and newcomers Calvin Booth, Cedric Simmons, Rashad McCants and Ike Diogu. And while McCants has had a handful of shining moments in his two-month Sacramento stay, even he hasn't turned in a performance like Diogu's latest when it comes to showing the NBA at large that you deserve a new contract. The fourth-year player, who was taken ninth overall by Golden State in 2005, broke through for a career-high 32 points in the Kings' 118-98 loss at Denver on Monday. Diogu set a Kings season high for field goals made, hitting 14 of 20 attempts to go with 11 rebounds.
Since Diogu began playing for the Kings on Feb. 21, he has played in just nine games overall and logged 10-plus minutes just three times. But with the way he played in a season-high 41 minutes against Denver, it's clear he should have been playing more all along.
NUGGETS 118, KINGS 98: The Nuggets' J.R. Smith nearly beat the Kings on his own at the Pepsi Center on Monday, hitting a franchise-record 11 3-pointers and scoring a career-high 45 points to help Denver win the Northwest Division title.
What's more, Denver retained its second place spot in the Western Conference and -- with one game left -- can finish no lower than the No. 3 seed. The win also gave the Nuggets home-court advantage in the first round of playoffs and tied the franchise record for wins with 54.
