Just two years ago, the Sacramento Kings were in the middle of their memorable first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors.
The Kings, led by general manager Monte McNair, coach Mike Brown, star guard De'Aaron Fox and newly acquired center Domantas Sabonis, won 48 games in 2022–23 to clinch the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, snapping the longest active playoff drought in North American professional sports at 17 years. The Kings ended up losing to the Warriors in seven games, but it marked what those in Sacramento hoped would be the beginning of a promising era of basketball in California's capital city.
Two years later, only Sabonis remains. McNair split ways with the organization on Wednesday night, Brown was fired in December and Fox, the longtime face of the franchise, was traded to the San Antonio Spurs in February.
"It's not a good organization," ESPN's Brian Windhorst said Thursday on NBA Today.
.@WindhorstESPN isn't optimistic about the current state of the Sacramento Kings.
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 17, 2025
"This is the definition of why they have been a bad organization for decades." 😕 pic.twitter.com/cQi4ne7qmM
Windhorst went on to note Sabonis's comments at his end-of-season press conference Thursday when he mentioned Sacramento needs to acquire a point guard this offseason. Which is ironic because, well, they employed Fox not too long ago.
"They just had a franchise point guard that they let the relationship go south on," Windhorst said.
"... They had the Executive of the Year [McNair], relationship went south. He knew he was getting fired because they already had Scott Perry hired. He knew for weeks he was getting fired.
"They finally found a coach who put them on the right path in Mike Brown. They liked him so much they gave him a contract extension last summer. They fired him two months into the season. This is the definition of why they have been a bad organization for decades."
According to The Athletic, McNair, who knew his time in Sacramento was coming to a close, did not want to fire Brown. He also was reportedly hesitant to trade for Zach LaVine and sign DeMar DeRozan last offseason.
The one constant over the last decade-plus has been owner Vivek Ranadive. Since he bought the team in May 2013, Sacramento has hired eight head coaches, four general managers and made the playoffs just once—in 2023.
"They had an alignment that worked, and they imported a pairing that didn't work and is very expensive," Windhorst said. "They had a front office that was working; they disinfranchised them and ran them out of town. What are we doing here? ... Why would you have faith in the decision making from the top?"
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ESPN's Brian Windhorst Eviscerates State of Sacramento Kings After GM Firing.
