The Sacramento Kings are going into the coaching wilderness once again. After firing Luke Walton earlier in the year, the franchise has decided not to retain interim coach Alvin Gentry.
It’s been a long time since the Kings had a good thing going, either on the court or with who is manning the bench. There’s some promise with the young lineup, though, and that will mean this coaching hire will be pivotal for Sacramento to finally rise out of the depths of mediocrity.
3 head coach candidates for the Sacramento Kings
The new coach will be tasked with building around De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Donovan Mitchell. The pieces are in place to make a run at the Play-In Tournament as soon as next year.
In the last 16 years, Sacramento has somehow cycled through 11 coaches, a remarkable amount of attrition in such a short span. None of the coaches have won even half of their games, though the team around them could be at least partially to blame. The most successful has been Walton, ironically enough, who won slightly more than 42 percent of his 161 games.
It would be a stretch to say this is the most important hire the Kings have made in two decades. But the team hasn’t even sniffed the playoffs since 2006. There’s only a certain amount of losing a group of fans can take before deciding enough is enough.
There are plenty of decent coaching candidates already available to Sacramento and some may soon emerge as the coaching carousel spins. Here are three worthwhile candidates for the Kings to consider.