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Thursday night NBA recap
(07:11)
Vlade Divac resigns as general manager of the Sacramento Kings, the team announced on Friday. Joe Dumars will assume the position of interim executive vice president of basketball operations and be involved in the search process to replace Divac, who has headed the front office in Sacramento since 2015. Head coach Luke Walton, former Divac teammate with the Lakers , it is reportedly safe.
His tenure at the helm of the Kings was nothing short of disastrous. Sacramento hasn’t participated in the playoffs since 2006, but Divac’s tenure has been marked by some of the worst front office mistakes in recent history. Notably, he passed Luka Doncic to select Marvin Bagley, who, while promising, has underperformed expectations and has faced injuries and a suspension so far. He fired Dave Joerger after last season, despite Joerger taking the Kings to their best record in over a decade. Perhaps most damaging, he gave more valuable draft picks to the Philadelphia 76ers to make room for the cap to sign Monta Ellis, who ultimately picked the Indiana Pacers over them.
The Kings have flirted with front office changes in the past. In 2017, they received permission to talk to Sam Hinkie (the man who designed the draft robbery with Philadelphia) about a hidden role, according to Marc Stein, but nothing came of it. They’ve hired a number of highly regarded executives for minor roles, such as Ken Catanella, Scott Perry, and Brandon Williams, but none have been able to bring the franchise back into contention with Divac’s hand behind the wheel.
Dumars won a championship as an architect for the 2004 Detroit Pistons, but hasn’t had control of a team since 2014. Amick reported Thursday that Dumars was gaining influence within the organization, suggesting he’ll be a long-term candidate. deadline for taking over full-time work. The story of owner Vivek Ranadive in Silicon Valley also suggests that candidates with analytical backgrounds will also be considered. Given the difficulties of the past 15 years, however, the kings have nowhere to go but up.
