You'll notice no mention of Geoff Petrie there, and no comment on how Levien's basketball ops position will be filled. The Kings have two separate PR operations, one for the business side and one for the basketball side. The business PR team sends out releases and coordinates media on items like ticket promotions and sales. The basketball side handles press on trades, player access and the like. This press release on Levien's resignation came from the business side.

The word was that by the end of the 2010-11 season, Levien would be prepared to take over as GM, and Petrie would be ready to retire or step into an advisory role.

Then the 2009 draft happened.

Before the 2009 draft, you never heard about "splits" in the Kings organization, not the basketball side under Petrie. This is among the most stoney franchises in pro sports. Trades come out of nowhere. Draft picks are mysterious until the last minute. Free agent signings appear like tornados.

Note that I say "most of the front office." Levien had just been hired six months prior on a multi-year contract.

Other reporters echoed Ford's chatter, including then Bee writer Sam Amick and DraftExpress' Jonathan Givony.

What else do we know about Petrie's stance on Rubio? We know he doesn't much like Rubio's agent Dan Fegan. Amick reported that back in February, upon Kevin Martin's trade to Houston. (You may also remember the whole flapdoodle revolving around that — a line saying that Fegan represented Rubio was yanked from his print story, and Amick took to his blog to make sure it was included in the narrative. This is an important bit.) Fegan, of course, landed Martin as a client in December 2009. Amick reported that Petrie didn't like that. (It's important to note Petrie is far from the only GM who doesn't like Fegan.)

One more note on Fegan, before we turn back to Sacramento. Stu Lash had worked for Levien at Levien Sports Representation. When Levien got out of the game, Lash ended up working for Fegan. Lash now represents Kyrylo Fesenko, a former client of Levien's.

***

It's incredibly easy to see what happened, in retrospect: Petrie smacked down Levien, possibly over sore feelings related to the Fegan/Rubio situation and the public reports of a front office split Ford and others published, possibly in a clandestine power struggle. Petrie gave up cold, hard cash to establish a succession plan he favored, and to re-establish the dominance of he and his allies in basketball operations.

Four months later, one month after the Martin trade, there's a return volley of sorts: In the press release announcing the departure of team president John Thomas, Levien is named senior vice president. Of what? It doesn't say. If it was of basketball operations, where Levien had exclusively worked to that point, then Levien had leaped Mike Petrie and Cooper. But the release was vague, and surely no raise was involved. (The Kings were still cutting costs. Heck, they still are cutting costs today. Besides, it's not like Levien, who negotiated Martin's $55 million extension and Deng's $71 million contract, is hard up for money.)

That's late March. In mid-June, Ailene Voisin reports Levien hadn't been seen at the practice facility in "several weeks." The Kings just so happened to conduct every one of the team's draft workouts within that several weeks. It'd be odd for an assistant GM to not be present at draft workouts, and not see his name pop up scouting any outside events. Levien did attend draft workouts in 2009, and even scouted on the road some.

Two weeks later, Marc Stein of ESPN reports Levien is done. Joe Maloof confirms the news to Amick for FanHouse. A day later, the deed is done.

***

Connect the dots. Reports surface of tension with the Kings organization. Fegan's client was passed up by Petrie. Petrie got a contract extension, and promoted his son and right-hand man to positions even with or above Levien. Levien's old client, Martin, signed with Fegan, who Petrie dislikes. Martin got traded, and Fegan and Petrie had what counts for a semi-public spat through the media. Levien gets promoted while Petrie is out of town. Levien stops being seen in Sacramento, or in any locations where he'd be scouting for the Kings. Petrie demures on a question about Levien's absence. Levien resigns.

Petrie is a brilliant talent evaluator and one of the most respected team-builders in the league. Levien is an incredibly smart businessman, negotiator and talent scout. The Kings had them both … but it just couldn't last. There's no space in Petrie's front office for a Levien. That's both regrettable and understandable. Either way, the Kings are worse off for this resolution.