The Sacramento Kings announced today that Kayte Christensen-Hunter has been named as the team’s new television game analyst, taking over the role recently held by Doug Christie.
From the statement released by the Kings:
Kayte has proven herself time and time again throughout her eleven years covering the Kings,” said Sacramento Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé. “With extensive experience as a player and broadcaster, she will bring a deep passion for and knowledge of the game to the telecasts this season.”
“Kayte is a tremendously talented and experienced basketball analyst and television professional,” added NBC Sports California Senior Vice President and General Manager Matt Murphy. “She has developed immense knowledge of the game and the Kings organization over her remarkable career as a player and media member. We are very excited to have her contribute her talent and knowledge to our live-game coverage of the Kings this season and provide an insightful and entertaining experience for fans.”
“To say this is a dream come true is an understatement,” said Christensen-Hunter. “The Kings gave me my first big break in this business 15 years ago and since then these wonderful fans and city have embraced me, welcomed me in and made Sacramento home. This fan base is truly unmatched. I am honored to follow in the footsteps of the great Jerry Reynolds and Doug Christie. I’m also so proud to be able to show my 3-year-old daughter and so many other young women that we have a place in the NBA. I’d like to thank Vivek, Matina, John and everyone at NBC Sports California for this opportunity and I can’t wait to join up with Mark and Kyle to bring Sacramento Kings action to our amazing fans.”
Kayte is a very familiar face to Kings fans, having served in various capacities on the television broadcast from pre-game shows to full time sideline reporting duties over 11 seasons with the team. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience from her time as a WNBA player and as an NBA analyst/reporter. This is a well deserved promotion for Kayte and I’m looking forward to hearing her excellent analysis alongside Mark Jones and Kyle Draper in the upcoming season and beyond.
Congratulations Kayte!
Good for her.
She can be frustrating but she has earned this opportunity with a lot of hard work. I hope she does well!
I’ll be that guy.
Doug was terrible and anything would be an improvement over him. I’m sure she’ll do just fine making the best of another 12 seed campaign.
I like this a lot. Her commentary is usually smart and on point, and I’m more amused than irritated by the “what the fans need to realize” moments.
Good for Kayte.
She is smart as a whip. She will do a wonderful job. Yes, the fans need to understand trope is meh (Jham does it too). However, the Kings, at one point, had someone leading their broadcast team who called fans morons, publicly, for decades. Methinks this a BIT of an improvement.
Not meant to defend Grant, but callers are the worst part of every radio show.
There’s a lot of truth to that, but if you give them room to move, and push them toward where you want to go, it’s a tremendous opportunity to wing it and see what happens.
Dead air never scared me in the slightest.
Yeah, as grating as it can be when you hear it day after day, year after year, I see that more as an symptom of the Kings being crappy for 15-years and having to somehow maintain a positive spin on that more than anything egregiously specific with her. If Kings improve, it becomes less of an issue. Great point about what Grant got away with for years.
What I have observed through the years, is that all broadcasters have their familiar phraseology, often subconsciously acquired, and that my reaction to it is based on my subconscious (I think, lol.) I bet she has heard the feedback about, “what fans need to realize” and I’ll be interested to see how she responds. I agree with other commenters that she is quite intelligent and personable, and seems like a genuine person. Doug is genuinely a good guy too, and can be annoying. I bet his coaching gig will propel his growth in basketball, and believe that I will notice him to be less goofy. Grant, OTOH, does not strike me as a genuine person. Of course I have never interacted with him in real life.
Grant seemed to be everything most of the commenters say on here. I find it highly unlikely that I would enjoy spending an afternoon with him doing any activity. Just seems like a douche.
That said, he was a very good play by play man in my opinion…maybe not for everyone. I liked most of the catch phrases, felt he got excited at appropriate times etc. I think if most people just watched him on the broadcast for years and never heard radio show, most of us would have a much more positive opinion of him.
Alas, that’s not how it worked out and he doesn’t deserve any pity as a result. Which no one has anyway.
Jones is fine to me, just takes time to have him not feel like national broadcaster and feel local. Katie is fine…the whole thing is just fine. No more no less for me.
Draper on the other hand, is a rough listen for my tastes.
yep.
Grant did have some skills and he did show some enthusiasm and excitement. He radio personality was “more him” and that was a turn off. I have interacted with him a few times and he is a douche. I have interacted with Mark as well- long conversation- seems like a genuine nice guy. Did not know the Sacramento team, town and market at first but that is to be expected and then has a set of cliches- probably due to national presence. Have met Kayte as well- very genuine person. She will stumble a bit but then meld well with thee task. Good for her.
A some who has spent some time around Grant, he is a New Yorker. He is brash and seemed to be republican. We lived in the same town. When I was a server and when I worked at a pizza place he was always a good person to me and others, which is more than I can say for many. I saw him at the bars with Marty Mac every once in a while. I never a dude that I know hung with him some as well. While he is not my kind of cat, he always treated me well. He took the time to learn my name, and he took an interest in the servers lives. That is not the case with many of the people that I had to deal with. I have served Jerry, and yes Grant is no Jerry but who is?
Does treating staff well make you not an ass no, but he was always good to me, be it when serving or working at a pizza place twenty years ago. He was decent when out with Marty Mac, he was actually kind of quiet. Plenty of people treated me like shit during my time in food service, but Grant was always good to me. I will say that anything he says comes out brash. He would call for his kid when he was running around the pizza place, and his voice had so much to it that it almost sounded like he was mad even when he was not.
I am not saying I like his takes on his pod cast, or the antagonistic end to his time in Sacramento. Can he be a pick on some of his media platforms, sure, but I tend to think he gets somewhat of a bad wrap here? I am not saying he is a saint, nor someone I am trying to kick it with, but I also don’t think he is the caricature that many have made him out to be.
Ok so there is like a five percent chance that it was Marty Mac with Mark Finein, but I don’t think so. Those days were twenty or so years ago, and plenty of drinks too . It is possible that I could be mixing up nights. I do feel like I saw Grant and Marty out several times, but I saw Mark plenty too, so it is starting to mesh together as I time goes by.
Grant may really be what people here say, although over the years in encounters with him he seemed decent, but you never know. The things I don’t like about Grant are the same things I don’t like about many of my Facebook friends, so meh.
She is robotic, boring and rarely says anything insightful. Other than that, great choice
Right. Maybe Kayte can host an afternoon radio show and act belligerently for decades. That would be insightful. In fact, she could host that show piss drunk for a decade and still be more classy and entertaining than ol’ napes.
Look I’m sexy Grant. I’m hot as balls. The other Grant was a, toad.
As for Katie, she ain’t my cup of tea. Just bores me every time she speaks.
Ok
Don’t hate on Grants.
Don’t make me change my name to GrantGrantNoPants
Isn’t that whataboutism? Thinking Grant was bad has nothing to do with whether Kayte will be good, or is a good choice.
No. The point is a GLARING double standard in how fans react to their broadcast team members speak to them. Imagine Grant was a women and spoke to fans that way for ONE YEAR, let alone for decades.
I think you are looking way too hard for some sexism that isn’t there… The VAST majority of people despised Napear for how he spoke to callers and his arrogant attitude. It’s not like the fans could fire him though. When he finally was fired, very few people stood up for him.
Kayte has a much, much more toned down attitude but there is attitude all the same. She rubs some people the wrong way with it and that’s fine. There’s no double standard here. Act like an arrogant a-hole and people won’t like you, it’s pretty simple.
I think her knowledge of the game is on point. Her delivery needs a lot of work if she wants to endear herself to the fans. She has been with the organization for a long time and I just don’t see that delivery changing much but we will see.
The female tone police are real ya’ll
Grant absolutely SUCKED at his job. He had 3-4 catch phrases and was dull during broadcasts, and his radio show was a horrific tire fire that turned away fans from the team.
Players knew what he was about and avoided him too.
Absolute garbage broadcaster, his work is terrible and that’s why nobody has picked him up since he got canned.
There is no comparison, Kayte wouldn’t have been my choice, but she’s going to be head and shoulders better than that orange shit-stained hack.
Disagree- for comparison, she is far more insightful than the non-plyer Grant and just as insightful in different ways than Doug. I liked Doug but he got silly on occasion. She won’t do that.
I would say she is cautious but not robotic- in time, she can and will become more confrontational and critical. In a sense, it is a tough spot for all women announcers- they have to come off as “nice”. I believe that she will overcome that about Game 42. as in “what was he thinking” , that was a terrible pass and Luke has been out-coached again.
Grant and Jerry are untouchable.
I agree. I want to homer for her since she has roots, but I just don’t think she’s good at the job. But maybe she’ll grow into it? Let’s hope.
Yeah, this seems like something Grant would say
This is excellent, Kayte knows her shit.
I do hope she’ll get some games with Koz in the booth. The two of them together are hilarious.
Koz and Draper would be a good combo.
Koz is a dick. Knows no more about hoops than the casual fan and makes me cringe every time he speaks.
Agree. She and Koz have done solid work, obviously comfortable working with each other and have been working this market for a long time and don’t have to pretend to be local. Hope Koz picks up some games with Kayte.
Yay!
See, what the fans don’t understand is that she’ll be working along side the play by play commentator during the televised Kings games.
🤣😂
Not looking forward to this at all. I have a feeling I’ll be muting the TV more often than I’d normally prefer.
Lucky you that you missed the guy they had in there after Jerry Reynolds. Great guy, but listening to him was like watching David Brent sing.
Doug being awful at the gig doesn’t mean much. I’m not remotely upset he isn’t doing that anymore either.
I don’t care for Kayte’s tone as time has worn on. That’s what this is about. We’ll see how it goes, but like I’ve said not optimistic.
It’s a completely different role than the studio stuff. Her job is to break play down on the fly, not provide analysis as such.
Hopefully this proves to be accurate.
I hear you. I’m hopeful that this job is focused on basketball and not ancillary team/fans stuff that’s not basketball.
Hopefully.
Yup, another season with games on mute.
I thought she was pretty good as an. announcer. When she first started I thought she would throw out quite a bit of good insight.
At very least, better than Doug I did turn sound of w him amd Draper or Jones. .
I meant when Katie first starting working for the Kimgs
I remember pre and post game Kayte with Coz from back in the day, and her analysis was always so on point back then. I think she struggled a bit with the more open format of radio, and that’s where the meme’s about what the fans don’t understand started (some of which I made). This will likely put her into her sweet spot again, and I’m here for it!
I’m happy for her. Hopefully she can experience giving thoughts and analysis for a winning team for once.
I like her in this role. Kayte is very knowledgeable and transfers what she sees into what she says with relative ease. If she maintains her focus on the team and not the fans, everyone benefits.
Well said.
I’m hoping this is how it goes.
Agreed, wish she’d stop patronizing fans with the “what fans fail to realize is..” stuff. Outside of that, I do like she tends to lean towards defending the players over anything.
I think we all know why she got this job
She’s better at it than Doug Christie and did the work as a sideline reporter for years?
What does sideline reporter have to do with calling the games?
Maybe we should let the ball boy who’s been putting in ball boy work for years be an assistant coach.
No, you’re right. Being a TV broadcaster has no bearing on a future career as a TV broadcaster.
Like I said, sideline reporter and brodcaster are two completely different jobs.
Neither of them talk in front of a camera!
Neither of them interact with the NBA!
Neither of them try to generate entertainment!
Totally different! It’s like someone is comparing apples and rutabegas. Your analysis is spot on Grant (and kinda matches what I thought of your intellect tbh).
no experience matters to you when you’re bothered by something else. We probably don’t need to get directly into what that is here.
She took the avenue that was open to her, excelled at it, learned a ton, moved forward to pre and post game, worked with a myriad of other announcers, paid her dues and earned a job.
Eric Spolestra started as an assistant video coordinator and is now a great coach. We all take the road that leads us forward. Being an ex-player is a worst pre-qualifying path to the announcer booth.
What qualifications is she missing that the two people who previously sat in her chair had? She played ball at a college and pro level, and was a sideline reporter for nearly two decades. What else, exactly, does she need in your opinion, and who would you prefer the job went to?
She’s clearly deserving. For me, as posted here elsewhere, it’s a question of whether she will confidently speak her mind.
Pieces of shit gonna piece of shit.
When do we get the thumbs down back?
I went ahead and reported the ‘we all know why she got the job’ guy for abuse. No benefit from allowing that kind of behavior into a shared space.
She earned the opportunity…and overcame a glass ceiling while getting there?
Because she’s way freaking better than Doug Christie, that’s why.
There’s always gotta be one of you.
Got her foot in the door, shilled like hell, watched her career skyrocket?
You should have pressed and held ‘backspace’ instead of hitting ‘enter’ then gone about your day.
Man, get the fuck out of here with this garbage.
Not to detract from the discussion of what a complete muppet the above user is, but what exactly is the character in your avatar? I actually have a huge, stuffed version of it that I grabbed at a thrift store a few years ago that I use to test lighting in my photo studio. Haha I’ve taken and deleted several hundred images of it over the years.
It’s Tiny T-Rex!
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/35964812-tiny-t-rex-and-the-impossible-hug
I’m a youth librarian/selector, and the Tiny T-Rex picture books are some of my favorites because they are painfully adorable. I actually have original artwork of the character by Jay Fleck hanging on my son’s wall.
Thank you! The images from the books are completely adorable. One of these days, a comment of yours will get a completely random, unrelated-to-the-topic reply from me of a dramatic, melancholy 3/4 pose of him, and I hope that you’ll remember this conversation.
I know why she got the job- clear as a bell- she was the best person for that job- knows basketball, is articulate, knows the Kings and knows Sacramento. That’s it- that’s why.
If you mean time and effort, then I agree. If it is something else to where the mind wonders then take a walk.
Excellent choice. Saw her on a couple of the summer league games and thought she was very good as an analyst. She was knowledgeable and knew where to pick her spots. This seemed like a better fit than the post game work where she could get a little too wordy at times.
Wow, so many awful takes. I loved Doug Christie and why pick on Kayte, she knows her stuff. Sideline reporting and Analyst are different then play by play. I won`t judge till she has done it awhile.
I like this move. Katie clearly knows the game, and can talk about it intelligently. I also think she’ll get better as she gains experience, and as much as I like Doug as a person, he was cringe-worthy as a broadcaster.
There’s an art to broadcasting for a perennially bad team. You have to call out positive things when you see them, but don’t overpraise because they haven’t earned that, and certainly don’t go after fans for being unhappy with poor play. You also have an obligation to call out mistakes, and other poor play, but you also can’t constantly go after the team, even if they deserve it. Jerry Reynolds did this perfectly. Christie tended to overpraise, but wasn’t afraid to criticize as well. Katie has the basketball knowledge and broadcast ability, but I’m not sure she’s found that balance yet.
The color commentator role is a good place to find it, because it’s really about the game and not a lot of the other stuff. Good choice.
I thought Kayte did a great job in the role during the California Classic. She knows the game, has plenty of experience, and we know she cares about the Kings. Not sure what else anyone can ask for when a team brings in a new analyst for the broadcast.
While I like Mark Jones and am not high on Kyle Draper, they both suffered from being outsiders- did not know the Kings or Sacramento. She will not have that problem.
They both also suffered from trying to do color too often. Trying to get in their “funny/unique” phrases, jokes etc. Annoying.
This is the most accurate description of what is happening. Too much “look at me I am cool” instead of calling a basketball game.
Mark is OK but he makes a lot more mistakes than I would hope to see from a national class announcer.
Agreed! By leaps and bounds, Kyle is the worst.
Congratulations Kayte!
j/k Good to have you
Get rid of the guy she is going to sit next to and we are ten times better…
I don’t mind him, but my favorite team of announcers last year was the all-female team.
He just does not fit for me. He can do the job but not here…
Just something off. He simply does not know the team now or where it has been.
He has a problem naming the correct King’s player on the court sometimes, its pretty bad. I think he called everyone on the court Delon Wright during one particular game.
Well, Delon was all over the court ! A whirling dervish.
I’d love it if Krista Blunk eventually took the PBP gig. She was fantastic in that game.
The games will be just that much more unwatchable, or unlistenable I should say.
Not a fan of Jacobs either.
Loved Jerry…and Grant to a lesser extent, even Koz was solid. But DC, Jacobs and Kayte are annoying to listen to.
Wow I’m seeing some real dumbasses in the comments.
She’s gonna be great and she absofreakinlutely put in her time with the Kings. She is also an intelligent and articulate basketball commentator so what’s the deal? Lots of people saw this coming. So…. she says shit about fans? Is that it? Fans say way worse shit about her and her coworkers all the time. You don’t like her tone? Pfft because Napear was all peaches and gravy…
If it’s the woman thing then grow up and humble yourself or just fuck off.
Napear is the bar here? Limbo!
I think that she’s a fine choice, but she has dug her own hole with a segment of the fan base due to her constant criticizing of the fan base, coupled with her lack of criticizing the the actual team that has missed the playoffs during her entire employment with the Kings.
Again, I like the hire of Kayte as the color analyst. But it’s not exactly seamless, and not all of the criticism or concern is unwarranted. To your point, some of it is indeed beyond the pale.
James Ham regularly expresses his frustrations with fans. He even uses the same phrase! Nobody gets made at him over it…
Ham catches flack as well, and rightfully so.
Ham certainly gets blowback, and if this was an article about Ham becoming the color analyst, my guess is that you would see a lot of the same legit concerns. What would be missing is the misogyny.
This is a very true statement.
Yeah, as much as Kayte’s style causes me to cringe often, Ham as color analyst would instantly turn me directly to mute in favor of radio broadcasts.
“Wow I’m seeing some real dumbasses in the comments.”
Cussing and insulting others who have a different viewpoint than you is childish.
I’d call holding onto antiquated viewpoints childish, too, but today’s kids are a helluva lot better than that.
Fans say way worse shit about her
I made the grave mistake of checking out the Kings’ reddit sub yesterday, and my God, man, this shit pales in comparison to what the Q-Anon convention over there is saying. I’m a proud proponent of vulgarity, but let’s just say that there are a lot of dudes over there that are definitely dying alone.
Well deserving. Best person for the job.
She knows basketball, she knows the Kings and she knows Sacramento and w she will give it her all.
She will team well with Mark Jones ( like Doris Burke i on ESPN)
I like this.
All announcers have some annoying “go to” comments but she can never approach Grant’s “if you don’t like that… over comments.
She will learn and she has for the past 13 years.
Excellent choice.
I like the choice.
I might be the only one, and I’ll first say that I have enormous respect for Doris Burke, but I can’t stand her in-game commentary. She’ll overhype a standard basketball play if performed by a “star” player and talk nonstop over the game. Not a fan hers when it comes to commentating, but I generally like her post game analyses.
Totally agree about Doris ! Over talks and almost lectures at times ! Much better in studio ! She gets a pass due to gender !
Kayte’s knowledgeable enough to do the job, but I hope cuts down on the condescension.
Yes, I hope she cuts out the rosey take/ignore reality thing she did on sideline/etc. Seemed she critiqued more when announcing.
This bullshit of not pointing out the obvious problems/flaws while working for Kings is ridiculous.
Congratulations to Kayte and now if they would just promote Koz to do play by play.
Congratulations, Kayte!
Welcome to a different circle of Basketball Hell!
I understand why you guys got rid of the downvote button. But could we maybe have an “ignore?” This thread is chock full of solid candidates.
congratulations Kayte, you deserve a shot.
Yeah, unfortunately when a woman is hired or promoted you inevitably get those comments. We all know dudes like that.
The fact is, she’s more than earned it and she is a hell of a lot better than some of the other color commentators out there. I’m happy about it.
Don’t think she was good on the sidelines or in the studio. Hopefully will be better in this role. Wish her well.
As I mentioned in the other thread. Good hire. Expected and deserved. Kayte has risen through the ranks. I’m looking forward to her making her mark on the broadcast team. As long as she finds her go to line that is somewhere between “two hands” and “hippity hop to the barber shop” I’ll be pleased.
I think it goes, “TWO HANNNDDDS!”.
Shrug, could be good, could be bad. Time will tell. I thought she was very good in the studio, but never felt right at courtside. Hopefully talking basketball during the game is better for her than setting up 15 second sound bites.
Lets goooo Kayte!!!
She’s earned it, I’m rooting for her!
I’m guessing this gets a big thumbs up from KayteHunterFanClub.
I’m happy for her and look forward to seeing her grow in the job. Congratulations, Kayte.
next question: who would you like to see as the new sideline reporter? Jim Gray?
(runs and hides)
She may be smart, and she’s “done her time”, but she was wooden as a sideline and post-game commentator. I don’t expect this to work well. Color commentary has to add color. (Especially when the product on the court is bad. Jerry was so good at that.)
I see a lot of people comparing Kayte and Grant. Unfortunately, Grant was the color commentator and Jerry was the analyst. Kayte has been hired in the analyst role.
To me, this hire is solid. She seems genuine and to know her stuff. However; a question to ponder – Did Jerry ever talk down to the fans or belittle fans for not playing the game at a high level?
I think she will be fine…but it is hard to replace a legend who was superb at his job and the most likeable guy in the entire organization.
I like Kayte when she takes on the failings of the team with confidence. She has done that a few times. But when she stays in her shell, which she has done most of the time, and self-censors and excuses to stay in the good graces of ownership, she’s pretty bad, because she combines it with an arrogance towards the fan base. There were times last year when Draper called her out on it. I’m hoping that her elevation will encourage her to be more independent, and speak more candidly.
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