Patrick Baldwin Jr.

Contract Value Index (CVI)

Patrick Baldwin Jr. earns a C Contract Value Index (CVI) grade, a middling assessment that reflects the fundamental mismatch between his modest $263K annual salary and his fourth-year inability to establish consistent NBA production. His D performance grade is anchored in replacement-level counting stats—3.7 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 0.6 APG across nine games this season—that offer no evidence of developmental progress warranting roster investment, let alone optimism about his role going forward. At $263K, Baldwin Jr. is priced as a depth-piece gamble, which is appropriate for a two-way contract situation; the salary itself carries minimal cap burden, and the term is just one year, so Sacramento has built-in flexibility to move on without penalty. The real problem isn't the money—it's that a 23-year-old fourth-year player should be operating in a sharper competitive window, yet the Kings' recent signings and the institutional framing of his tenure as a "21-game audition" signal that Sacramento views him as organizational filler in a rebuild rather than a prospect worth serious development capital. His D sentiment grade and the media narrative of "low-expectation optimism" reflect accurate skepticism: the draft pedigree that once carried goodwill has been exhausted, and Baldwin Jr. now carries the burden of proof rather than any presumption of belonging. Unless the next phase of his audition produces a dramatic reversal in production, his CVI will remain anchored at middling—cheap enough that the team loses little by keeping him, but insufficient evidence that he justifies anything beyond a short-term roster spot.

Performance Analysis