Kings Dysfunction in the Spotlight With New National Report

First, an article in The Athletic written by Sam Amick and Anthony Slater detailed some of the dysfunction in Sacramento regarding Anjali and Vivek Ranadive. Anjali’s presence seemed consultational at first, but her father would go on to name her Assistant General Manager of the Stockton Kings, Sacramento’s G-League affiliate.

Ownership crowd seeking opinions from family members is nothing new, and there are even other examples of them being named to high-level positions. Joe Lacob’s son, Kent, was part of the Warriors organization until recently, and Austin Ainge is in a front office role under his father.

The caveat to these other examples is that they have been unproblematic, for the most part. For the Kings, this hire led to even more poor decision-making as highlighted by Amick and Slater's comments on Mike Brown’s extension with the team.

“There was a level of hesitancy from the ownership side, in part, team and league sources said, because of the opinion of Anjali Ranadivé, Vivek’s 32-year-old daughter, whose increased presence and perceived influence has been a major talking point in Kings circles for quite some time.”

Anjali would later be promoted to General Manager of the Stockton affiliate, and this is where the stories connect. In Gardner’s more recent article, Anjali’s relationship with Chance Comache (the focus of Gardner’s story) was corroborated by a team trainer and other sources.

Gardner mentions that Anjali would present Comache’s stats to the team in hopes of earning him a promotion to the NBA, a clear conflict of interest. Somehow, this isn’t the only occurrence of Anjali being romantically involved with a member, or a previous member of the Kings organization. Jeremy Lamb, who Anjali was dating at the time, was with both Ranadive’s in Mexico when the decision to fire Mike Brown was made.

While Lamb has real basketball experience, his influence is just another example of the problematic dynamic within Sacramento’s leadership. Gardner even highlights that many members of the team had no interest in going on the record about Comache’s arrest due to Anajli’s status as GM.

“Making matters more complicated for Stockton members was Anjali Ranadive’s position as the team’s G.M. Many worried that speaking out about Comanche’s arrest would draw the ire of her father, Vivek”

Vlade Divac, John Calipari, and the late Jerry West are also named as advisors to Vivek in Slater and Amick’s article, but the distinction between basketball minds and Anjali needs to be made. The influence of non-basketball minds isn’t limited to Anjali either. Matina Kolokotronis, the team’s chief operating officer, and John Rhinehart, who handles business operations, are also examples of non-basketball minds who have influence in Ranadive’s decisions.

For far too long, Sacramento has been at the mercy of ownership that has no business owning a sports franchise. First, Joe and Gavin Maloof led efforts to sell and relocate the team from Sacramento before being blocked by an incredible grassroots effort. Ranadive did keep the Kings in Northern California, but his tenure has proven to be less successful and arguably, more distracting than his predecessors’. This story is nothing new, even former King De’Aaron Fox, whom Ranadive and the team allowed to be blamed for Brown’s firing, called out the issues in a now-deleted tweet. 

 “Everybody has the same story about the dysfunction, but yeah it’s my fault.”

Poor ownership can trump good basketball, and tends to do so often. Donald Sterling’s racist remarks distracted from a successful Los Angeles Clippers team, and Steve Ballmer has the team involved in yet another scandal, while the A’s have been dealing with the fallout from John Fischer’s decision to move the team out of Oakland.

The Kings aren’t alone in these issues, but Gardner’s story, as well as Amick and Slater’s, highlight the issues with the Kings' organizational structure and why it’s unlikely the team will compete for a championship under Ranadive.

Members of the team being afraid to speak out about a horrendous crime because the GM, who was the owner’s daughter, had a relationship with the player involved, is a new low for a team that endured a 16-year playoff drought. 

It’s unlikely that Commissioner Adam Silver will step in, but if the decision-making of the past 12 years wasn’t enough, today’s news solidifies that the Ranadive family isn’t suited to run the Sacramento Kings, or any franchise.