Harry Giles III was one of the most talked-about Kings well before the season started.
The organization spoke highly of him even as he was held out last season, and some national publications said last summer the forward out of Duke could be a dark-horse candidate for NBA Rookie of the Year.
However, his playing time has been down. He sat out four of the last seven games and played just two minutes in the Kings’ 101-86 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night. Sacramento concludes a four-game home stand against the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night at Golden 1 Center.
He’s played in nine games and averaged 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 9.7 minutes per contest.
The Kings announced after the game they were assigning the No. 20 overall pick in the 2017 draft to their G League squad in Stockton.
Giles started for the Stockton Kings on Sunday against the visiting Agua Caliente Clippers. He scored 30 points on 13-of-20 shooting in 23 minutes in a 120-106 loss in which the visitors outscored Stockton 70-38 after the break.
This isn’t the first time the Kings have sent a first-round pick to their G League affiliate.
Justin Jackson, the No. 15 selection last year, was sent to the Bighorns during his rookie season. The North Carolina product played six games with Reno, averaging 17.8 points and 6.2 rebounds before returning to Sacramento, where he started the final 35 games of the season.
Also spending time in Reno was Georgios Papagiannis, the 13th pick in the 2016 draft. He averaged 13.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in 10 G League games but couldn’t translate those numbers to the NBA. The 7-foot-2 center averaged 4.2 points and 3.2 rebounds in 38 games with the Kings before being waived in February.