Sacramento Kings Reportedly Show Interest In Sam Hinkie

Former Philadelphia 76ers GM Sam Hinkie is reportedly a target of the Sacramento Kings.  We examine just how serious the interest is and much more.

Just when you least expect it, the Sacramento Kings always find ways to make things interesting.

Monday evening, both Marc Stein and Zach Lowe of ESPN reported that the Kings have an “exploratory interest” in former Philadelphia 76ers GM Sam Hinkie.

Hinkie, the man behind the famed “process” during his time in Philadelphia, has been out of the NBA this season after resigning from the 76ers shortly before the end of the season last year.

As Stein and Lowe follow up in their story, all teams are required to seek permission from the 76ers in order to reach out to Hinkie, due to a non-compete clause that went into effect following his exit from the team.

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Along with that, both Stein and Lowe report that it’s not yet known what exact position the Kings, namely owner Vivek Ranadive, has in mind for Hinkie, nor how much interest Hinkie has in possibly joining the Kings.

Sacramento Kings

However, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical has given us a good indication of what type of position that could be, which he disclosed not long after Stein and Lowe’s report.

According to Wojnarowski, Randadive has been quietly searching for a possible executive to place above the team’s current GM, Vlade Divac.

Holding that title as well as vice president of basketball operations for just more than two seasons now, Divac’s lack of front office experience is widely known from in and around the league.

Wojnarowski has detailed the many eccentricities of Divac’s front office management style, as he did most notably on The Vertical Podcast With Chris Mannix in the days following the DeMarcus Cousins trade.

Shortly after both reports, the Kings issued a statement denying any interest in either hiring Hinkie or bringing someone in above Divac, coming courtesy of James Ham of CSN Bay Area.

Of course, we don’t have to go back all that far to the Cousins trade during the All-Star break, in which key Kings officials like Divac denied exploring a trade for Cousins shortly before it actually occurred.

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For that reason and many others, it’s very easy to take that statement with many spoonfuls of salt and Wojnarowski’s follow up tweet in response to the team’s statement is just priceless.

At this point, there’s plenty of smoke here to truly consider a shakeup in the team’s front office a real possibility in the near future.

Considering the team is at the ground floor of their burgeoning rebuild, there’s no question things have to be addressed in order to make this developing foundation a lasting one.

And not unlike the Cousins trade, you can’t rule out a potential change done in surprising and puzzling fashion, as the Kings have often done.

As for Hinkie, whether he is involved or not in some capacity remains to be seen, but there’s enough to suggest that he may have his pick of the litter regarding available front office positions around the league once the regular season comes to a close.

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As is often the case with the Kings, there’s always more to the story than what we know right now and this will certainly be something to watch for as the season comes to a close.