Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein wants out of Sacramento after four years with the team, according to Jason Anderson of the Sacramento Bee.

The Kings could offer Cauley-Stein a qualifying offer, making the center a restricted free agent but agent Roger Montgomery told Anderson he hopes that doesn’t happen.

“We’ve kind of hoped that things would change over the years and Willie would get a chance to expand his game, get a chance to get some consistency there in terms of the roster turnover and the coaching turnover and the things that have not been steady there,” Montgomery said. “That being said, I’m hopeful they will not even give Willie his qualifying offer so Willie can be an unrestricted free agent.”

If the Kings do decide to extend the qualifying offer to Cauley-Stein, they would reserve the right to match any offer sheet the 25-year-old signs.

Sacramento has the upper hand in these negotiations. The Kings will likely extend the qualifying offer to give them a chance to match any contract Cauley-Stein signs. Any contract offered to the center would likely be under market value as a team would likely not be interested in tying up too much cap space for 72 hours for a player not guaranteed to them.

The Kings could also rescind the qualifying offer at any time if they need the cap space to go elsewhere.

Cauley-Stein played his fourth season for the Kings last year, averaging 11.9 points per game and 8.4 rebounds.

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