Monte McNair named Executive of the Year

Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair has been honored with the NBA Executive of the Year award for the 2022-23 season, the league announced.

McNair is the architect of the construction of a squad that broke a 16-year drought without contesting the playoffs. The executive sent Tyrese Haliburton to Indiana last year in exchange for Domantas Sabonis, in a move that was criticized at the time. Subsequently, he complemented the duo made up of De’Aaron Fox and Sabonis himself with other important pieces to the team’s success such as Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter and Keegan Murray.

Still, the biggest move McNair has made is to the bench. The Kings signed Mike Brown as head coach to replace Alvin Gentry. In his first season in charge of the team, Brown guided the Kings to third place in the Western Conference with a 48-34 record, which has earned him another unanimous Coach of the Year award.

Unlike most major end-of-season awards in the NBA, the Executive of the Year award is voted on by the league’s 30 general managers, rather than the usual 100 members of the media. McNair has received 16 first-place votes, which has translated into a total of 98 points. Behind him were Koby Altman (Cleveland Cavaliers), Justin Zanik (Utah Jazz), Calvin Booth (Denver Nuggets) and Brad Stevens (Boston Celtics).