Jimmer Fredette, arguably one of the most popular players in the history of college basketball, has not been able to catch fire in the NBA the way he lit up NCAA defenses. At the moment, the Sacramento Kings are working on a buyout for the 10th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
The Kings, long gone from playoff contention, plan on using the remainder of the season to evaluate young guards Ben McLemore and Ray McCallum, and have their point guard position settled by Isaiah Thomas.
With "Jimmermania" set free, rumors have hit that the Utah Jazz may move to pick him up to increase attendance and lure a fan favorite to the building. Fredette is a Mormon, and Salt Lake City has a very large Mormon population.
Yahoo! Sports' Marc Spears is already throwing cold water on the idea, tweeting out "The Utah Jazz have max 15 players on roster and have not discussed free agent guard to be and ex-BYU star Jimmer Fredette, a source said."
Spears' tweet could mean they haven't discussed Jimmer yet, though. At BYU Fredette averaged 28.9 points per game as a senior with 4.3 assists. For his career, which spanned four seasons, he scored over 18 points a night.
In the pros, though, his defensive shortcomings have limited the Kings' desire to have him on the floor. He's never played 19 minutes per game, and was scoring a paltry 5.9 points in 11 minutes of action. The Jazz backcourt of rookie Trey Burke and shooting guard Gordon Hayward have provided steady if unspectacular production, with Alec Burks coming off the bench to score 13.7 points per game, second on the team.
According to reports, a team with more interest is the Denver Nuggets, who have experienced injuries to Ty Lawson and Nate Robinson and traded Andre Miller.
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