Report: Kings Eyeing Songaila for Assistant Coach

Bobby Jackson is a former sixth man of the year and fan favorite in Sacramento who most fans will remember, but Songaila might be a new name for some. While Songaila isn’t a household name, some very tuned-in NBA fans remember his time in the league well. 

Songaila played for Sacramento from 2003-2005, averaging just over six points a game in 154 games with Sacramento and even made 28 starts. After a 13-year playing career, Darius joined his former team, Zalgris Kaunas, as an assistant coach in 2015.

Songaila’s time away from the NBA wouldn’t last long, as the San Antonio Spurs would bring him in as a video assistant in 2018. Songaila stayed with the Spurs and made his way through the ranks, eventually becoming an assistant with the team under Gregg Popovich and now head coach Mitch Johnson. Songaila is currently an assistant coach for Manisa Basket in Turkey, coaching former Stockton King, Jon Elmore and former Golden State Warrior, Chris Chiozza. 

Beyond Songaila’s ties to Sacramento, he also shares a home nation with both of Sacramento’s bigs in Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valančiūnas. This is especially interesting as there have been reports for the last few months about Sabonis possibly being unhappy with the Kings organization after a season of dysfunction, leading to an early end to the year.

Sabonis and Songaila never shared the court together in the NBA or for the Lithuanian National team, but a young Valančiūnas was once benched for Songaila in an Olympic game back in 2012. Whether this hire has anything to do with trying to appease the possibly disgruntled Sabonis remains to be seen, however, Songaila is well deserving of the role regardless.

During his time in San Antonio, Songaila coached another current King and future Hall of Famer in DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan played for the Spurs from 2018-2021 while Songaila was working under Popovich in the film room and as an assistant coach. While DeRozan’s time in San Antonio was not filled with a ton of success on the court, he has always spoken fondly of the Spurs organization, which reflects well on Songaila. 

Darius’ experience with Popovich in San Antonio should be a huge positive for Kings’ fans, but some will likely have questions about bringing in a coach that was not high up on the bench in the NBA. Although it’s fair to bring up Songaila’s lack of progression with the Spurs, he was sitting behind some very strong coaches with past and future head coaching experience.

When Songaila left the Spurs in 2024, the bench included future head coach Mitch Johnson and former NBA head coach Brett Brown among other high-level assistants. According to Dusty Brown, it sounds like the end of Songaila’s tenure had more to do with the level of the guys above him and their long-term contracts than his lack of quality as a coach. 

While it’s not reasonable to expect that every former Spurs coach will be excellent with a new team, Popovich’s coaching tree should give fans some confidence that Songaila can be successful. Former Spurs coaches to take head coaching roles include Johnson, James Borrego, Will Hardy, Becky Hammon, Ime Udoka, Jacque Vaughn, Jim Boylen, and Brown.

This doesn’t even include Sean Marks who is now the general manager of the Brooklyn Nets and Chip Engelland who is with the number one seed Oklahoma City Thunder. 

Only time will tell if Songaila becomes the next Popovich disciple to take on a head coaching role in the NBA, but for now, his job will be helping Doug Christie bring the Kings back to the playoffs like the pair did in 2004 and 2005. With only two playoff berths since Songaila’s last year with the Kings in 2005, he and Christie have their work cut out for them.