Willie Cauley-Stein Wants to Leave Kings in Free Agency, According to His Agent

Willie Cauley-Stein is ready to move on.

"I really think Willie needs a fresh start," the Sacramento Kings center's agent, Roger Montgomery, told the Sacramento Bee's Jason Anderson on Saturday night. "Based on how things have gone for him there in Sacramento, I just think it's time for Willie to move on and we'd really like him to move on."

According to Anderson, the Kings have the option to make a qualifying offer to Cauley-Stein, which would make him a restricted free agent. As his contract stands now, per Spotrac, the 25-year-old is set to make a $6,265,631 base salary next season that would necessitate a $14 million cap hit for the Kings.

Sacramento released a statement to the Sacramento Bee in response to Montgomery's comments: "Willie is a great player who has shown he can fit our style of play. Beyond that, we can't comment further."

However, Kings general manager Vlade Divac recently did comment further on the situation to the Bee.

"We would like to keep Willie in terms of his talent potential, but he still needs to show us the consistency that we are looking for," Divac said. "We are talking."

Any conversation that was going on may have just come to an abrupt halt.

Montgomery went on to place blame on the Kings organization—"the roster turnover and the coaching turnover"—for any inconsistencies in Cauley-Stein's game.

Sacramento's 2015 lottery pick has posted career averages of 10.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists in four seasons as a King.

Last season, Cauley-Stein posted a career-high 8.4 rebounds per game alongside 11.9 points and 2.4 assists across 81 starts.