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In his first season with the Kings, Ferrell most commonly operated as breakout star point guard De'Aaron Fox's backup. He appeared in 71 contests for Sacramento, averaging 5.9 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.9 assists across 15.0 minutes per game. He also shot a career-high 43.5 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from behind the arc. While Ferrell has established himself as a quality backup point guard in this league, the Kings, looking to make a strong push towards the postseason, went ahead and signed Cory Joseph to a three-year contract this offseason, which puts Ferrell's role with the team in jeopardy. Joseph has made a living as one of the league's most reliable backup point guards since he was drafted by the Spurs back in 2011. With that, the Kings likely signed Joseph as a more reliable option behind Fox, so Ferrell, barring injury, may spend most of the season on the outside of the rotation or playing very limited minutes. As the backup to a high-usage guard like Fox, Ferrell's fantasy value was already rather low, but the addition of Joseph takes it to a level where Ferrell, for the most part, can be safely avoided.
Ferrell played all 82 games last year for the Mavericks, including 21 starts. Coach Rick Carlisle placed him in a sixth-man role where he saw 27.8 minutes. In that time, the second-year guard averaged 10.2 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists. He also shot well from beyond the arc, hitting 1.6 threes per tilt at 37.3 percent. However, with the Mavericks drafting Luka Doncic, the backcourt was going to be too crowded for Ferrell to see significant run, so he opted to sign with Sacramento, where he was also offered more money. Still, it may be tough for Ferrell to crack the workload he saw last season, as he'll be backing up starting point guard De’Aaron Fox.
Despite being an undrafted free agent, Ferrell saw plenty of interest going into the 2016-17 season. He spent training camp with the Nets and despite not making the regular-season roster initially, Ferrell was eventually signed by Brooklyn in early November for backcourt depth. However, after just 10 games with the Nets, he was eventually let go, which cleared the way for him to sign multiple 10-day contracts with the Mavericks. After liking what they saw, Ferrell was eventually signed for the rest of the season and with injuries galore in the backcourt, he earned 29 starts in the 36 games he played in. Ferrell finished the season averaging 11.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.1 steals across 29.1 minutes with the Mavericks. That established him as a legitimate NBA player and a potential starter with Deron Williams no longer in the picture. However, the Mavericks went ahead and selected Dennis Smith with the ninth overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, bringing in one of the elite point guards from the college ranks. That's absolutely devastating for Ferrell's value, as Smith should open the season as the team's starting point guard and will get all the minutes he can handle. That should push Ferrell to a bench role, where he'll fight for minutes with the likes of Seth Curry and J.J. Barea. With a significant drop in playing time and production expected, Ferrell likely won't be worth a look in anything but the deepest of leagues.
An undrafted free agent out of Indiana, Ferrell signed a partially guaranteed deal with the Nets in the summer and will attempt to make the team out of camp. The undersized Ferrell, a celebrated recruit in the 2012 high school class, steadily improved each year at Indiana, capping off his career with a strong senior season, during which he averaged 17.3 points, 5.6 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals en route to unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten honors. Despite Ferrell's stellar college career, making the final roster won't be an easy task. Brooklyn already has 15 guaranteed contracts on the ledger, so it would have to part ways with one of those players in order to accommodate Ferrell.