Shortly after the Sacramento Kings were eliminated from playoff contention in the Play-In, general manager Monte McNair mutually parted ways with the organization, creating a vacancy for one of the NBA’s toughest front-office jobs.
Following McNair’s departure, the Kings are reportedly eyeing two former NBA GMs for the job: ex-New York Knicks executive Scott Perry and recently ousted Denver Nuggets GM Calvin Booth. Both men have some connection to the Kings, albeit not extensive histories.
In Perry’s case, he worked in the Sacramento front office for a few months in 2017 before being hired by the Knicks. And as for Booth, he was in contention for the Kings’ GM opening five years ago before team owner Vivek Ranadive hired McNair.
“Perry, whose 25-year front office career has also included time with the Detroit Pistons, Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic, had a strong working relationship with Ranadive during his Sacramento stint and worked closely with then-general manager Vlade Divac,” The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Anthony Slater wrote.
“Former Denver Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth is also expected to be given consideration, league sources said. Booth, who was fired by the Nuggets recently along with coach Michael Malone, previously interviewed with the Kings before they hired McNair in the summer of 2020. While Divac continues to have a presence and voice around the team, including with Ranadive, team sources say he will not be returning in any formal capacity to the team’s front office.”
The Kings have been in or lingering around the postseason for multiple years in a row now, but it is unclear where Sacramento goes from here. The team traded cornerstone point guard De’Aaron Fox to the San Antonio Spurs before the deadline, and most of their salary cap is currently tied up in the trio of Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis, and DeMar DeRozan, who will make more than $115 million collectively next season.
During the 2022-23 season, Mike Brown’s first as head coach, the Kings won 48 games, an 18-game improvement from the previous year and the most for the franchise in nearly 20 years, and snapped the NBA’s longest-ever playoff drought. Despite losing in a seven-game first-round series to the defending champion Golden State Warriors, Brown was named NBA Coach of the Year and McNair won the league’s Executive of the Year award.
That season would prove to be the high point of the Brown-McNair era, though. Last season, Sacramento won 46 games, which was only good enough for ninth place in the Western Conference. The Kings missed the playoffs by losing to the New Orleans Pelicans in the Play-In. Similarly, the Kings, who fired Brown two days after Christmas, finished ninth in the West this year with a 40-42 record and fell in the Play-In to the Dallas Mavericks.
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