Last fall, the Kings reportedly came very close to signing veteran Small Forward Andrei Kirilenko. The Kings and Nets were reportedly the frontrunners but in the end Kirilenko chose to stay in Russia and play with CSKA Moscow.

Recent reports have suggested that Andrei Kirilenko may want to come back to the NBA. With the Kings still desperate to acquire a Small Forward, it's very possible that they would still be interested. Kirilenko, even at 31, would be a huge upgrade at the position for the Kings, particularly defensively.

The good news is that this summer, the Kings could be in a better position. Mikhail Prokhorov's Brooklyn Nets have made several moves over the past few days that essentially take them out of any Kirilenko bidding, unless Kirilenko doesn't care about money. With Deron Williams and Gerald Wallace returning to Brooklyn along with the acquisitions of Joe Johnson, Reggie Evans and Mirza Teletovic, the Nets have about $54 million tied up in salary for next season. The salary cap is expected to be similar to this past season's at $58 million. While the Nets could go over that number by re-signing their own free agents, they cannot go over it by signing outside Free Agents like Kirilenko. They do not even have the Mid-Level Exception to offer Kirilenko because they gave it to Teletovic.

So to put it simply, the Kings could offer Kirilenko much more money than the Brooklyn Nets to return to the NBA, as well as a bigger role (albeit on a lesser team). The Jazz do still own Kirilenko's rights, but with the recent acquisition of Marvin Williams and the continued development of Gordon Hayward, I'm not sure how interested they'd be.

The rumor last year was that he was looking for a 3 year contract worth $26.5 million. So I put it to you. Should the Kings go after Kirilenko again?