By Jason Jones
jejones@sacbee.com

SAN ANTONIO - The Kings are negotiating a buyout with guard Aaron Brooks.

Once a starter, Brooks' playing time has dwindled in recent weeks in favor of Jimmer Fredette.

In his first 35 games of the season, Brooks averaged 23.6 minutes per game averaging 9.1 points and 2.7 assists. In his past 11 appearances, he's averaged 12.1 minutes, 4.3 points and 1.1 assists.

In 46 games played with the Kings this season, Brooks averaged 24.4 points per game with 8.0 points and 2.3 assists. He did not play in five of the Kings' past six games.

The recently acquired Toney Douglas added to the glut at point guard behind Isaiah Thomas.

The Kings coveted Brooks for some time and signed him to a two-year, $6.6 million free-agent contract last summer.

Brooks, 28, played in China last season.

PHOTO: Sacramento Kings point guard Aaron Brooks (3) celebrates a 3-point basket in the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors on Wed., Dec. 19, 2012 at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif. Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua

This remains the 30 (maybe 40-win) question for the Kings.

Can they all just get along and play like a team?

The question was fair game again this afternoon at Jason Thompson's press conference. Thompson re-signed with the Kings a couple of weeks ago, but it took time to schedule the press conference due to schedule conflicts.

Thompson's five-year deal is worth $30.2 million.

Thompson isn't being brought back to score. The sooner more Kings mature and realize how to find their offense within the team - something the Kings like about Thompson -the sooner the Kings can start realistically start talking about winning more than 30 percent of their games in a season.

"The big opportunity for our team, Jason along with the rest of his teammates is how much more cohesive they can become as a group and making each other better when they play," said Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie.

Part of that process is maturity from the team's young stars - DeMarcus Cousins, Tyreke Evans and Marcus Thornton -who figure to get the bulk of the shots this season.

That also carries over on defense. For one of the worst defenses in the NBA to improve, the Kings need to function as a unit on defense.

Thompson believes the addition of Aaron Brooks will help in that process, too. Coach Keith Smart began the process of organizing the offense and looking to shore up the Kings' defense at the point of attack by starting Isaiah Thomas at point guard.

"(Brooks) can only help Isaiah with him maturing and being that floor general that we need," Thompson said.

If the entire team doesn't mature and learn to work together on both ends, the Kings are in for another season in the 20-win range.

Aaron Brooks is on his way to Sacramento.

The point guard tweeted "Sacramento Kings" in the last hour. The deal is agreed upon and expected to be worth around $3 million this season and a two-year deal.

The Kings would have 15 players under contract with Brooks. Of those players, Hassan Whiteside does not have a guaranteed deal.

If the Kings look to keep an open roster spot, Whiteside could be in trouble and a candidate to be released.

Brooks (6-0, 161) was the NBA's Most Improved Player for the 2009-10 season for the Houston Rockets when he posted career highs of 19.6 points and 5.3 assists.

Brooks was dealt to Phoenix the following season. Brooks played in China last season instead of waiting for the NBA lockout to end.

Brooks has been thought highly of by the Kings for some time. He was a first-round pick of the Rockets in 2007 and often linked to the Kings in trade talks.

Brooks can score and is also a career 36.3 percent shooter from the three-point line. Brooks, 27, averages 12.5 points for his career.

LAS VEGAS - Fans might have wanted a splashy addition via free agency that hasn't happened. But the Kings are spending more money than they have in recent seasons.

The addition of James Johnson ($2.8 million) brings the Kings' payroll to $55.5 million. That is the Kings' highest payroll since the 2008-09 season. The salary cap for this season is $58.044 million while the minimum team salary is $49.337 million.

The Kings have 14 players under contract. Center Hassan Whiteside was waived. His salary of $847,307 becomes available.

The Kings announced Monday they have signed first-round draft pick Thomas Robinson to a contract.

Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Robinson, a 6-foot-9, 244-pound power forward, was the fifth overall pick in the draft out of Kansas. He was a first-team All-American last season, when he led Kansas to the NCAA championship game.

The announcement comes a day after the Kings reached an agreement with restricted free agent power forward Jason Thompson, who can sign his contract Wednesday.

As I noted a couple of days ago, the lack of an announcement about a qualifying offer for Donte' Greene with the announcement of Jason Thompson's qualifying offer meant Greene had more than likely played his last game with the Kings.

Greene confirmed that today on his Twitter account.

Bye-Bye SAC! Been a good 4yrs. Made so many friends and love all da fans!!!! #grindtime #on2danext #COS

— Donte Greene (@dontegreeneCOS) June 27, 2012

In news that is no surprise, the Kings have officially extended a qualifying offer to forward Jason Thompson, making him a restricted free agent.

Should Thompson sign an offer sheet with another team, the Kings have the right to match it.

The Kings made it clear they planned to retain Thompson, who spent parts of the last two seasons watching as players were brought in to upgrade the frontcourt.

Besides drafting DeMarcus Cousins, the Kings traded for center Samuel Dalembert, signed power forward Chuck Hayes and traded for J.J. Hickson.

But Thompson emerged as the consistent complement to Cousins last season, averaging 9.1 points and 6.9 rebounds.

Thompson was the Kings' first-round draft pick in 2008, 12th overall.

The Kings did not announce a similar move with forward Donte' Greene. That means barring a change of thinking, Greene will become an unrestricted free agent July 1.

With the Kings likely to draft another small forward and with John Salmons, Francisco Garcia, Tyler Honeycutt and Travis Outlaw already on the roster, the chances of Greene re-signing were slim to start.

The Kings won a tiebreaker with the New Jersey Nets and will be slotted fifth for next month's NBA Draft Lottery to be held May 30.

Both teams finished with 22-44 records. The Nets beat the Kings in Sacramento, 111-99, March 31.

The Kings have a 7.6 percent chance of winning the first pick in the draft. The Nets have a 7.5 percent chance of landing the top pick.

The lowest the Kings would end selecting after the lottery is eighth.

The Charlotte Bobcats (7-59) have a 25 percent chance of picking first.

The Kings will have the fifth or sixth pick in the second round, based on lottery results. If New Jersey picks ahead of the Kings in the first round, the Kings would pick fifth in the second round.

TEAM RECORD LOTTERY CHANCES (out of 1,000)

Charlotte 7-59 250
Washington 20-46 199
Cleveland 21-45 138
New Orleans 21-45 137
Sacramento 22-44 76
New Jersey* 22-44 75
Golden State# 23-43 36
Toronto 23-43 35
Detroit 25-41 17
Minnesota (To New Orleans via LA Clippers) 26-40 11
Portland 28-38 8
Milwaukee 31-35 7
Phoenix 33-33 6
Houston 34-32 5

* This pick may be conveyed to Portland.
# This pick may be conveyed to Utah via New Jersey.

As expected, the Kings announced today they have signed swingman Terrence Williams to a 10-day contract.

Williams, 24, was released by the Houston Rockets last week and was at the Kings' game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday night. He averaged 4.5 points and 2.3 rebounds in 12 games for the Rockets this season.

Williams was the 11th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft out of Louisville. He played one full season for the New Jersey Nets, who traded him to the Rockets last season.

Early into the 2010-11 season it was questionable if Jason Thompson would finish the season with the Kings.

Thompson was behind DeMarcus Cousins, Samuel Dalembert and Carl Landry for playing time. Coach Paul Westphal even experimented with Thompson as a small forward.

Now Thompson has played himself into a role with the Kings for the immediate future. Thompson wasn't given a contract extension this season, but Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie has been impressed with how Thompson has performed this season.

The Kings announced today they have picked up Keith Smart's contract option for 2012-13, ensuring Smart will return next year as the team's head coach.

"Keith has done a terrific job of taking control of the direction of the team," said Geoff Petrie, the Kings' president of basketball operations, in a written statement. "He is active, engaged and working hard to develop our young players along with a complementary style of play."

Smart began the season as an assistant coach and was promoted after Paul Westphal was fired following a 2-5 start and a public feud with second-year center DeMarcus Cousins.

The Kings are 10-20 since Smart took over as head coach on Jan. 5.

Kings point guard Isaiah Thomas was named today by the NBA as the Western Conference rookie of the month for February

In February, Thomas led all Western Conference rookies in scoring at 12.2 points per game and was second in assists with 4.4. In the first five starts of his career, the point guard scored 96 points, matching Otis Birdsong's 1970-71 franchise record for most points in a player's first five games.

Thomas will be back on the court tonight when the Kings take on the Los Angeles Clippers at 7 p.m. at Power Balance Pavilion.

The Cleveland Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving was named rookie of the month in the Eastern Conference after leading all rookies in scoring (19.3) and minutes (35.3). He scored 20 or more six times in February.

AUBURN HILL, Mich. - Kings center DeMarcus Cousins was drafted by Charles Barkley and will play for "Team Chuck" in the Rising Stars Challenge next Friday during All-Star weekend in Orlando.

Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal served as general managers and had 10 rookies and 10 second-year players to select from after Miami rookie Norris Cole and New York's Jeremy Lin were added to the pool.

The Kings announced today they have recalled center Hassan Whiteside from the Reno Bighorns of the Development League.

Whiteside will be with the Kings in Sacramento for Saturday's 7 p.m. game against the Golden State Warriors.

Since being assigned to the Bighorns on Jan. 1, Whiteside has played in 11 games and averaged 7.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and three blocks in 18.9 minutes. Whiteside has yet to appear in a game for the Kings this season.

As reported several times in The Bee and on sacbee.com -- most recently in Ailene Voisin's column on Jan. 18 -- Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie's future with the team appears increasingly uncertain.

But a report that surfaced Monday night in a fan blog, Sactown Royalty, attributed only to sources - that Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof have considered relieving Petrie of his position and have contacted a management agent - has been denied forcefully by Joe Maloof.

"No, this is not true," Maloof texted The Bee. "I had heard about (the rumor). We will be fine. We have had the toughest schedule in the league by far."

Below is the statement form the Kings on Alex English joining Keith Smart's coaching staff:

Sacramento Kings' President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie announced today the hiring of Alex English as an assistant coach, joining current assistants Jim Eyen, Jim Todd and Bobby Jackson on Head Coach Keith Smart's staff.

Keith Smart addresses the media after being named the new head coach of the Kings.

* Smart said he will treat the coming days as a training camp. "I'm going to go into it with the idea of, 'Who would be my starters?' and work from there. Unfortunately we're in the middle of a season, and don't have the kind of time we need, but I'm going to focus on the team that I put out there on the floor tonight and see where they go."

* Smart said communication with players is one of his strong suits.

* Smart said the Kings have a skill set conducive to a running team, but that fostering that kind of offensive identity will be a process.

Geoff Petrie addresses the media regarding the Kings' coaching change.

Geoff Petrie, the Kings' president of basketball operations, announced at a news conference this afternoon that Keith Smart has been named the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings.

The team announced earlier today that former head coach Paul Westphal had been fired following the Kings' 2-5 start to the 2011-12 season.

* Petrie said he talked with Kings co-owners Joe and Gavin Maloof "at length" on Wednesday and recommended that the coaching change "was probably necessary."

* Petrie downplayed the idea that a rift between Westphal and DeMarcus Cousins was a deciding factor in the decision to fire Westphal. "A lot of this goes to the greater areas of the way the team is playing and the performance levels of a lot of the players on the team beyond DeMarcus," Petrie said.

* Petrie said of Smart: "We think he's the best guy for the job right now."

Want to find out what assistant coach Keith Smart thinks about being promoted to head coach for tonight's game against the Bucks?

The Kings will have two news conferences this afternoon - 5 p.m. with basketball president Geoff Petrie and 5:15 p.m. with Smart - at Power Balance Pavilion in the aftermath of todays' firing of Paul Westphal as head coach.

We'll be there with reporters, photographers and video, so please check back for updates.

Plus, columnist Marcos Breton will be on a live chat 6 p.m.-7 p.m. and Matt Kawahara will host tonight's in-game live chat beginning just before tipoff. Check out both here on the Kings Blog beginning at 6 p.m.

By Bee Staff

DeMarcus Cousins is traveling with the Kings to Memphis today, Cousins' agent, John Greig, told The Bee's Jason Jones.

Cousins was sent home before the Kings' game against the New Orleans Hornets on Sunday. The Kings released a statement from coach Paul Westphal saying Cousins demanded a trade following the Kings' loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday -- a claim Cousins' agent has denied.

The Kings play at Memphis on Tuesday. Check back for more on this story as it develops.

Unedited video from the Chuck Hayes press conference this morning. Hayes will practice today and has been named team captain.

The following is a statement from Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie on the announcement of Chuck Hayes re-signing with the Kings tonight. The Kings will have a press conference tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.:

"It is a profound pleasure to announce the signing of Chuck Hayes to a new multi-year contract. Chuck's abilities and potential contribution have been previously described in great detail and remain unchanged. There is a much larger human story contained in the ongoing series of events which have encompassed the last eight days that go beyond basketball. It should be embraced. Some undoubtedly will seek to find some element of failure in this. There is no failure here. Chuck's story and return has been so much more about caring, support, hope, faith, prayer, and a livable redemption. These values represent a larger part of the oxygen of life. The travails and then the triumph of the human spirit is what transpired here. There should be inspiration in this for everyone, especially at this time of the year. In closing, I want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday with their families, friends, and loved ones, and to all a good night."

The Sacramento Kings issued the following statement:

"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."

The deal is for four years and worth $22.4 million. Hayes' original deal with the Kings was worth $21.3 million over four years.

The Kings announced today the team has waived forward Lawrence Hill and guard Adrian Oliver, trimming the roster to 13 players.

Hill (6-8, 220), a Stanford product, and Oliver (6-4, 210), who played at Modesto Christian High School, were both signed on Dec. 10. Neither played in Tuesday night's final preseason game against the Golden State Warriors, and they were not at practice today.

* Guard Marcus Thornton did not practice after he had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night with a kidney stone, head coach Paul Westphal said. Thornton passed the kidney stone and Westphal said he is day-to-day.

* Forward John Salmons also did not practice. Westphal said Salmons (right quadriceps contusion) still has "a lot of pain in that bruised thigh" and is day-to-day. Salmons worked out individually during part of the practice session on a side court.

-- Matt Kawahara

The Kings issued a statement that the team had withdrawn its contract offer to free agent center Samuel Dalembert.

Within minutes of the announcement ESPN's Marc Stein reported Dalembert had agreed on a two-year deal with the Houston Rockets.

And I have the darndest timing. I was on the phone with Dalembert for less than 30 seconds when he told me he had to call me back.

I guess he must have had a call from Houston.

In what probably shouldn't come as a big surprise, former Kings small forward Peja Stojakovic told ESPN.com earlier today that he is retiring.

Though only 33, the three-time All-Star has been bothered by serious back and neck issues for the past several years. The problems began during his final months with the Kings - he was traded to for Ron Artest in 2006 - and persisted throughout his subsequent tenure with the Indiana Pacers, New Orleans Hornets and Dallas Mavericks. He joined the defending champion Mavericks late last season and was a major contributor throughout most of the playoffs.

Peja's best years, of course, were with the Kings, the team that drafted him with the 14th overall pick in 1996. It took Geoff Petrie two years to finally pry him away from PAOK, where he was the Greek League MVP.

Free-agent guard Jamal Crawford, who the Kings and Portland Trail Blazers had courted in the past few days sent out a Twitter post Thursday morning announcing his decision.

"Rip city!!!"

And just like that, the Kings lost out on one of the best scoring guards, and another veteran who could have helped shape Sacramento's young roster, available on the market.

-- Victor Contreras

More of my amateur video skills:

With training camp with their first practice this afternoon I'm back to having video capability. Consider these practice runs and in a couple of days I should be close to 100 percent.

Media availability begins at 1 p.m., about an hour into practice. Be sure to check the blog later today and follow me on Twitter @mr_jasonjones for more frequent updates.