You would be right I suppose on Garcia except for the fact that his contract won’t come up until July 2009. That’s assuming he doesn’t sign an extension in the next month in which any RFA becomes a moot point.

Rookie contracts are scaled for 4 years and Garcia’s is no exception. The KIngs (wisely) chose to pick up the 2 (team) option years they had on Franky G. The next step is to negotiate the post-rookie contract, as I write this, have not done so.

The implications of not negotiating a contract extension (that’s what they would be negotiating with Franky as long as he is under contract with the team) with Garcia is that they risk a prolonged and nasty difficult negotiating process that Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Andre Igoudala and Emeka Okafor all have had during this summer. That’s the reason to sign an extension if for no other reason. (The players that did get them from the 2004 class off the top of my head were Al Jefferson, Kevin Martin and of course, Dwight Howard. Anyone else who is missing please mention it in current comments. Thanks.)

The one caveat I would add to anyone bothering to read this is simple. Garcia isn’t a near all-star like all of those players minus Gordon is, and Garcia hasn’t played on multiple playoff teams like Gordon has and having been a main offensive threat the team does have. So in essence Garcia’s situation is a bit simpler in that he’s a role player and the other players were valuable skilled players, or simply near all-stars/all-stars.

Now to the bad. Don’t bring the Qualifying Offer up. It’s bad juju. As Matt would say it’s a losing offer for both sides to agree on the QO. I especially think it would sour negotiations for Garcia moving forward and would degrade his relationship with Geoff Petrie in particular. That’s one option the Kings should do everything to avoid.

Don’t mention next summer in relation to Cisco’s FA. It doesn’t really matter yet. There is a whole season to be played out, and hell, at this point Cisco can still get an extension. It’s really like jumping 5 steps ahead before you’ve drawn out the hopscotch board (or whatever you call it).

On to your questions: As far as I’ve seen the Kings can’t negotiate a new contract with Garcia, after Oct 31st, until he becomes a RFA in July 09. That’s being based off many readings off Larry Coon’s FAQ.

The Kings don’t have to make an offer as high as a QO theoretically, but that isn’t going to be a very likely probability. After all Cisco’s QO (because of where he was drafted it fits into the salary slot of that particular pick he was drafted at) is probably less than any multi-year deal he will be able to command on the open market. Since most people around here have been talking about Mid Level money similar to what Beno Udrih signed for, and that was starting at 5.825 million this summer, and probably will go up next summer, that’s probably the money range that Cisco has to be aiming for long term given his particular status.

The Kings can hold Cisco’s rights forever (the right to make a QO) if he does a Josh Childress and leaves for Spain. Or Greece. Or the DR. Or whatever.

I hope this answers your questions.