The Stockton Kings announced Lindsey Harding as their new coach on Tuesday. In the same release the Stockton Kings announced that Anjali Randivé, daughter of Kings chairman Vivek Ranadivé, has been promoted from Assistant GM to GM.
Lindsey Harding had previously been a finalist for the Stockton Kings head coaching position before the team ultimately went with Bobby Jackson. Jackson left earlier this month to join Nick Nurse’s staff with the Philadelphia 76ers. Harding has been on the Sacramento Kings staff for four years.
From the Stockton Kings:
Harding joins Stockton after spending the previous four seasons with Sacramento as an assistant coach/player development coach. Prior to her time in Sacramento, Harding was a player development coach with the Philadelphia 76ers after working as a pro personnel scout for the club during the 2018-19 season. Harding is also an experienced international coach, currently leading the Mexican Women’s Senior National Team. In 2021, Harding was appointed head coach for the South Sudan Women’s Senior National Team and led the team during the FIBA AfroBasket qualifier, the country’s first time entering a women’s tournament.
Harding, a nine-year veteran in the WNBA, was selected first overall in the 2007 WNBA Draft following a standout career at Duke (2002-07) where she was named 2007 Naismith College Player of the Year and had her No. 10 retired and enshrined into the Duke Athletics Hall of Fame in 2018. The Houston, Texas, native made 270 career appearances in the WNBA while also playing internationally in Turkey, Lithuania, Russia and at the 2016 Summer Olympics for the Belarus women’s national team.
Harding has put in the work and is absolutely deserving of this opportunity, and I’m very excited to see what she can do with the Stockton Kings.
Anjali Ranadivé, on the other hand, has the experience of spending one year as an assistant GM for the Stockton Kings. I’m sure she’ll be given support in her new role to help cover for her lack of experience, but it’s hard to believe that of all the up-and-coming executives around the league that Anjali was the best candidate for the position. Let’s hope she’s a prodigy and my assumptions of nepotism are misguided.
From the Stockton Kings:
Anjali Ranadivé becomes the General Manager of the Stockton Kings after serving as the Stockton Kings Assistant General Manager for the 2022-23 season. Previously, Ranadivé worked for the Sacramento Kings as a coordinator in the Social Responsibility department. A U.C. Berkeley graduate, Anjali was an intern for the Golden State Warriors during her time at Cal from 2011-2013. Before her career in sports, Ranadivé reached the Billboard charts as a singer and songwriter in Los Angeles. She also ran a nonprofit for animal rescue and wildlife conservation known as Jaws and Paws.
The prior GM of the Stockton Kings, Paul Johnson, remains with the Kings organization as part of Monte McNair’s staff, according to Sean Cunningham:
Former Stockton Kings General Manager Paul Johnson will remain with the organization in a front office role with the Sacramento Kings. https://t.co/gvXrMLot4D
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) June 20, 2023
Johnson won G League Executive of the Year last season.
Glad to see Harding get the gig, every story about her in the last few years has been fantastic. Hope she does well.
And about Anjali Ranadive, has she just been promoted to GM, which led to them Paul Johnson getting a place in the Kings FO? Or was Johnson promoted to the Kings, which led to Ranadive’s promotion? It already looks bad, but if it’s the former it looks even worse. Hope I’m wrong of course.
Congratulations to Lindsey Harding for getting the Stockton Kings job as the next head coach. Also, not sure how I feel about the other news but hey as long as Paul Johnson gets to be part of Monte’s FO then I’m good.
How low does that thing go?
Top 10,000
Congratulations Lindsey Harding! I hope her the best and I expect to see continued development from the Stockton Kings with her in command. Very good choice in my opinion and I hope this leads to continued success for the G-League team.
Congratulations to Lindsey Harding! Seems like an inspired choice.
As for the other news, Vivek remains a joke, and this reminds us how vulnerable we still are to his buffoonishness.
Vivwreck rears his ugly head. A joke. His daughter in that position -zero merit.
Shows V still back there thinking he’s the reason the Kings are good again Rather than realizing the less V the better they’ve become.
I didn’t want to put this in the same post as Harding’s as it sucks the new GM was delivered in the same report.
Replacing the G-League GM of the Year, Paul Johnson, with the unqualified Anjali (she should seriously be ashamed of herself)…it’s a fucking embarrassment for the organization even if Paul was promoted to the Sacramento Kings FO leaving a vacancy for the position. They 100% should’ve hired a real GM.
Anjali has ZERO business being the GM of a professional basketball team. As the Asst. GM, it was fine…especially if she put in her time for a few years and actually learned to do the job under a tutor like Johnson, but this is just another example of Ranadive being a dismissive little chap.
I seriously want to like the man, but he’s such an egotistical idiot that he makes it impossible. He simply refuses to accept that he doesn’t know more about basketball operations than profession basketball minds who spent their life learning the trade. At best, this is all about perception and Johnson will still run things for the Stockton Kings, only Anjali will getting the credit for it, it’s pathetic.
What you say about Anjali’s promotion to GM is truth, however, no one will be able to say anything against it because they’ll be accused of being sexist…even though the criticism has everything to do with her not having the resume to be GM of the Stockton Kings.
The promotion is obvious nepotism and proof that bad Vivek is always lurking and can easily muck up what has been built with the Sac Kings at any moment.
Would it be surprising if Anjali is promoted to GM of the Sac Kings next year and MM is demoted to Consulting GM?
This is a lie.
…and then was promptly replaced by his boss’s daughter. What a joke.
It’s like something out of a comedy movie.
Vivek is still a delusional ego run amuck. It’s gross and slightly alarming.
What’s next? He, his son and daughter running it all.
I do not like this part of Vivek at all. The part where he has any say in the actual basketball part.
What if he got that award on the back of the great work of his assistant GM?
I can’t help but think that being promoted to a role in an NBA front office hold a bit more clout and a larger paycheck than being the Stockton Kings GM.
With Greg, I believe he already holds that role; if so they besically took away his Stockton title to focus full time on that role.
Being moved to the Kings front office in what exact role?
There are many in the front office that see being moved to the Stockton Kings GM as true career advancement.
Johnson has been VP of Player Development for the Sacramento Kings for several years. Basically he’s just doing that without also handling the G League team directly.
Good to know.
Player development and the Kings are two things that don’t go together. He is better as a GM in the G league.
Did he want to give it up?
Sad that the he wasn’t given the opportunity to continue to shine or that the promotion was not given to someone that deserves it.
Wow, are people around the league are begging to get out of the NBA and into G-League roles? I didn’t realize that.
Wonder if Monte or Wes applied for vacancy in Stockton. Also makes me wonder why Bobby Jackson went for the demotion from head coach of the Stockton Kings to bench coach for the Sixers.
Forgot to add that I appreciate your conversation, knowledge, and contribution to this community.
Vivek is grooming her to be the owner of the Sacramento Kings, not the GM of the Stockton Kings.
Yep. I think that there is a knee-jerk reaction that it overlooking the obvious.
Nepotism gets a lot of people of a lot of jobs. This one happens to be on the high end. Lord knows if I owned a team and had a kid that was interested in it, I’d be paving the way for him / her as well.
Great story for the Kings organization as it pertains to the hiring of women and minorities to positions that have largely been filled by white men. Beyond that, it’s really a bit of a nothingburger, at least in the grander scope of things Kings.
It’s a BS “perception” move made so that his daughter gets credit for other people doing her job. It’s about paying her on the team dime and the perception that she’s doing something basketball related, something else to add to her “resume”, like bringing up her singing career in a report about becoming a G-League GM.
Why does she need the title of GM if she’s not actually doing the work? Its a PR stunt and if they want people to respect her, she needs to earn it. She could just shadow the actual GM to learn the ins & outs of organization building.
I applaud them for getting her ready as the owner, but the way they’re doing is pathetic and dishonest.
“…but the way they’re doing is pathetic and dishonest.”
That’s certainly your “perception.”
I tend to agree with Rob, here, in that its a big nothingburger, hold the cheese. Sure, some other person with experience is missing out on one of a handful of fake GM jobs available but make no mistake, the GM of a G League team is mostly doing what the parent team is telling them to do anyways. And then hiring all the people to make that happen.
My take? Anjali is good at crooning, wooing is certainly a branch off that tree, amirite,? So the thinking is maybe she’ll be able to get guys like Bob Meyers off his couch (yacht?) and come make some magic with the (Stockton) Kings, amirite?
Without opining one way or the other, how do you know, and what can you tell us to back it up?
Exactly. Those have been my thoughts since she was hired as Assistant GM. If I was in his position I would more or less be doing the same thing. I’ve also never seen such passion for the state of the Stockton Kings than when she is mentioned.
I understand the nepotism argument. But, on the bright side, if/when she takes over the Sacramento Kings she will have more professional basketball operations experience than 90 percent of the people that have ever been in charge of an NBA team. More of a long-term chess move than a shortsighted checkers move. Queen Daughter to H5…
Yeah, me too. I’m a big fan of Anjali, and we’re seeing her do a fantastic job a fantastic job in Stockton!
If nothing else, this is an opportunity for Anjali to fall flat on her face and prove herself unworthy. Alternatively, she’ll prove herself to be outstanding and worthy (not holding my breath).
That’s what the narrative was about her last year when she got the assistant GM job. But lets be honest; unless you’re on the Rio Grand Valley Vipers or the Dakota Wizards, winning a Chip is just a pipe dream in the G League.
#dynasties
Seems he’s grooming the son for that role. As it’s the son who is sitting in on front office and ownership meetings with Vivek.
Congrats to Coach Harding! Next step in her path to the front of a bench.
As for the Anjali, it’s a similar path to what Kirk Lacob has experienced but he was also Director of Basketball Operations for the GSW while holding the assistant GM and GM titles for Santa Cruz. Her initial promotion didn’t seem to hurt Stockton, hopefully that trend continues.
If you (like me) find Anjali Ranadive’s unearned appointment a little irritating now, just wait until the King’s have a bad season and Vivek replaces Monte with her.
Exactly. And I don’t buy into this “if we were owners we’d put our kids in those spots”. Bullshit. Not every owner does this. That’s an excuse for Vivek and other owners to make terrible decision for the team and run teams into the ground.
Just like the bullshit of- the owner can do what he wants, it’s his team, and anyone would do the same.
Wrong. Many owners are smart enough, and not so ego driven, to hire people to run the teams. Professionals. Not their Fucking kids.
Lame by Vivek. Full stop
I’m fairly certain that there is not even a Bizaro world where Monte McNair gets immediately replaced by Anjali Ranadive. But lets hold our collective breath while we light the pitch forks and torches.
In all the years of the Kings having a D and G league team not one player has ever contributed in any significant manner to the Kings fortunes. So basically it is not a big deal who the GM or coach is.
Couldn’t that be seen as a problem that needs addressing by a keen basketball mind? Other teams use their G-League affiliates better. Just look at Miami who utilized their two-way contracts on Duncan Robinson, Max Strus, and Gabe Vincent, all of whom got served their time in the G-League.
The total irony here is that the Kings signed Vincent to an Exhibit 10 contract, only cut him days later. He played in Stockton, but the Kings did not have his rights. Now he is the starting PG for the Miami Heat after being picked up on a two-way deal.
That’s a Sacramento front office problem, not a Stockton front office problem, though.
Agree, Luther. Though when they were the Bighorns there were a few good call-ups. Zero interest in what goes on in Stockton.
I really don’t know what the GM of the G-league team does or how complex of an organization the Stockton Kings are. I assume the main personnel decisions are heavily influenced by MM. The head coach is hired, who I presume will pick her assistants.
Congratulations to L. Harding. Well deserved. She is a basketball lifer, paid her dues, kept her eyes on the prize and progressed up the ladder. This promotion may have been delayed a bit but she persisted.
She has worked for years for this – with a straight line laser focus and has years of knowledge and experience in the game that few others can match at her age. She likes and knows basketball, likes her players and is devoted to them.
Good choice
And Ifully expect that she will do well.
Good for Lindsay. Anjali Ranadive is pure nepotism. However there is a fair amount of that in the NBA and sports in general where the owners kid is an asst. to the GM or even full blown GM (see Hawks, Dallas Cowboys, etc). I’m not gonna lose sleep over it.
Here’s a good article showing nepotism with Various NBA franchises including the Warriors, Lakers, Hawks and our Kings.
https://deadspin.com/nba-nepo-babies-steph-curry-ressler-colangelo-nepotism-1850066346
Serious congratulations to Harding. This is a decision that seems deserved. The Anjali news dampers the Harding news because of how heinous it looks from the outside. I can just imagine Anjali saying “do you know who my dad is?” In order to conduct her business and get any respect(in the form of fear).
Man, the things Vivek does … it’s just gross. Would any other team in the league even give her an interview? I think not.
Teams wouldn’t. But I’m sure Luke Walton would invite her up to his suite.
[Insert the classic Walton gif where he does the double look with a chuckle]
I’m too dumb to know how to do insert gifs.
Sounds like a great hire. She’s beautiful, and smart. Congratulations Lindsey Harding!
I can’t muster any ill-will toward Vivek’s daughter getting what is essentially a business/financial-based position, as the big club is calling almost all the player shots. She’s not a mini-Monte by any stretch of the imagination. She’s getting her marching orders from Sacramento.
I feel like these 2 snippets of news could have been released separately so as to better highlight the positive comments towards Lindsey’s good news and leave it at that.
Anywaaaaaaays….
Congrats to Coach Harding, she seems to have the players’ respect and always seems extremely engaged with the coaching staff and players any time they cut to the bench last season. I wish her nothing but the best and hope she gets nothing but top notch support from her new, new boss.
Good for Linds, she seems to have been very effective while working in Sacramento, getting a shot to lead a pro team will be a fantastic challenge for her. I have zero doubt that she’s going to excel.
I don’t really care who the GM of the farm team is, they don’t make any of the important decisions.
Badge Legend