Sacramento's Owner Is Apparently Upset The Kings Are Acting Like......The Kings

Earlier today Shams and The Athletic dropped a massive story about how the owner of the Kings is basically pissed that they are back on their bullshit and are acting like....well the Kings. It covers everything from passing on Luka, to coaching decisions, the whoe shebang. Outside of their random season last year where they showed signs of improvement, they are back to being a lottery team. Not gonna say I'm salty about that one random season.....but I'm salty about that one random season seeing as how the Celts owned their pick. That is why I have no sympathy for what is going on in SAC. I feel for their fans, but the organization? Nope.

You dig into the story and there are a lot of great snippets. Like this

Frustration has been mounting among Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and others within the ownership group over the franchise’s front office and coaching, multiple sources tell The Athletic. Sources say Ranadive has shared his frustration with both front office and coaching decisions in a variety of unfiltered ways, including private conversations with business associates and in text messages during a season-long group chat with Divac, coach Luke Walton, assistant general manager Peja Stojakovic and Chief Operating Officer Matina Kolokotronis. The complaints, sources say, have been focused on the team’s underachievement and the part they all played in it.

Throughout the Kings’ pre-draft process in 2018, the Kings scouted Doncic heavily, including a dinner with the young prodigy led by Ranadive that also included Vivek’s son, Aneel, and Divac; the gathering was shared on Aneel’s social media. There was ownership support for the drafting of Doncic at No. 2 overall, but Divac, along with then-assistant general manager Brandon Williams and Stojakovic had concerns about his upside compared to Bagley’s, sources said. As The Athletic reported last month, the belief that Doncic’s ball-dominance would limit De’Aaron Fox’s ability to grow and that they were better suited pairing him with a talented big like Bagley were driving forces behind the decision.

OK so there's a lot to digest here. Maybe, and stay with me here, maybe it was a bad idea to fire Dave Joerger when not only was he all about taking Luka, but he also coached the franchise to their most wins in like 13 years? It was widely reported that Joerger wanted Luka and the whole reason he was fired was because he basically refused to play Marvin Bagley. Well if the owner sneaky wanted Luka too, why let Divac fire the best coach this team has had in forever? That's a little confusing. To be honest, the theory of not having more ball handlers to take away from Fox isn't all that crazy, the problem is if you fast forward to this season they benched Buddy Hield for a guy that's, ya know, a ball handler. Also, you have to factor in the owner's history with draft selections. How could we forget this?

Seems a little convenient that their owner is now all bent out of shape because Luka turned out to be a living God. It sounds like he really has a problem with Vlade, since he's been the driving force behind all these decisions, but as owner you would think he had veto power if he truly felt strongly about a decision. It's pretty weak to come out with these issues because things didn't work out like you thought. It's your team, you have final say.

But you also can't forget about all the injuries this team has had this season. That's going to play a role in how pretty much any team looks, especially one in the Western Conference. That's just shit luck. It doesn't explain all their decisions that led up to their current situation, but it does have to be factored in when talking about the Kings underachievement.

In the end, despite what looked like a turning of the page, it appears the Kings are the same old Kings. They now are going to have to match whatever offer Bogdanovic gets on the open market which is most likely going to be expensive, and I'd say maybe next year things will get better but the sad news is it probably won't. I do think at this point you have to just let this group and strategy play out and hope for health, because this is the bed both Vlade and their owner have made.