SACRAMENTO -- The excitement of media day might have gotten the best of Kings big man Willie Cauley-Stein.
His proclamation, "I'm ready to get paid," probably sounded innocent enough to him, but in written word, it comes across as something different.
As he finished Wednesday's media session following Day 2 of training camp, the eccentric 7-footer attempted to clarify the comments he made to NBC Sports California.
"I think that got put out of context a little bit, it made it look like I was just worried about this money," Cauley-Stein said. "I meant that in the sense that ‘what do I need to do to get that?' Not that, ‘I deserve to get this, I've done this, this and that.' No. It's like, ‘What do you want me to do? Tell me what you need me to do to get that, and I'm going to go get that done.' That's what I meant by that."
In all fairness, context was given for his media day quotes in the original NBC Sports California article. Here is what Cauley-Stein said Monday:
"I'm ready to get paid. This is what we've got to do, that's what type of focus I'm on.
"I'm ready for it. I've seen everybody else -- all my peers. All right, I'm ready for that. What do I got to do to do that? That's what they're doing? All right, I'm going to go ahead and do this now. I was doing it this way, obviously it wasn't working, so now let's do it this way."
Unfortunately for the 25-year-old center, context doesn't always carry over in the complicated world of the Internet.
It's a big season for the former Kentucky Wildcat. He has struggled with inconsistency throughout his three years with the Kings, which he willingly admits.
Cauley-Stein is entering the final year of his rookie scale contract, and barring last minute extension talks, he will play out this season and likely become a restricted free agent this summer.
If the Kings extend a qualifying offer, they will have an opportunity to match any deal for the former sixth overall selection in the 2015 NBA Draft.
Since the February 2017 trade that sent DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans, Cauley-Stein has shown massive improvement since getting more of an opportunity. He posted 12.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 28 minutes per game for the Kings last season.
