The Sacramento Kings ended their 2024-25 season in embarrassing fashion, losing 120-106 to the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs outplayed the Kings in nearly every way imaginable. The Kings looked completely outmatched, and it was a shameful way to end the season in front of their home crowd.
The game truly ended in the second quarter. The Mavs outscored the Kings 44-19. Klay Thompson had 16 points in the quarter, finishing the game with 23. 10 of Sacramento’s 18 turnovers came in the 2nd quarter as the Kings explored new and interesting ways to end possessions without a shot attempt.
DeMar DeRozan led the Kings with 33 points, and led the Kings with 28 field goal attempts.
A player named Brandon Williams, who you’ve probably never heard of and who I promise is not the former assistant-GM who tried to take over the Kings front office under Vlade’s watch, had 17 points off the bench for the Mavs.
I’d complain about the officiating, and believe me there was plenty to complain about in this one, but it’s hard to blame the refs when the Kings never showed up for this game. The team was discombobulated and ineffective throughout, even when the refs let them play.
Ultimately, this game proved us sadly right about this team in the wake of the De’Aaron Fox trade. The team is poorly constructed, still isn’t able to handle teams with size and length, and has an incredibly low ceiling while also being full of veterans on bloated contracts. The future is bleak for the Kings, and major changes will be needed this offseason.
On the plus side, this loss gives the Kings a sliver of a chance to keep their first round pick. Can’t wait for the Kings to use it on another guard.
Thank you all for joining us for another season in Basketball Hell. On behalf of the entire Kings Herald crew, we couldn’t do any of this without all of you, and we wouldn’t want to endure this ride with anyone else.
Monte McNair gone.
Good on them to move quickly on this. How soon can we get rid of vivek and deebo as well?
Who is them?
The actual playoffs start Saturday April 19
The NBA Draft Lottery is Monday May 12 in Chicago.
A new GM should be appointed ASAP.
Interestingly, the immediate dismissal of the current GM, Monte McNair and the departure of the Assistant GM, Wes
WelkerWilcox, leaves a barren front office.Before players and teams can show up on Inside The NBA’s Gone Fishin’ mock ups, Exit interviews are held as the players and coaches scatter to the wind.
How will/could this be handled?
Coach Christie could, certainly, perform that task, but after the embarrassment we witnessed tonight, will he be given the Head Coach job?
What GM is hired with that ultimatum?
I don’t think Doug is the guy to be HC. The offense stagnated and the defense was very inconsistent. He should take a year or two off then come back as a TV guy.
I thought he was solid on TV!
The Sacramento Kings finish the 2024-2025 season with a losing season (less than .500 record), Oh!. no GM, no Assistant GM, and no Head Coach (only an interim HC),and likely no 1st round pick.
Not a good time to be a Sacramento Kings fan.
extra embarrassing that it’s mutual lol. Wish we can all quit the Kings just like that
Monte was like- uh, no thanks. I’m out.
Monte certainly wasn’t perfect but when you hear people like Sam Amick and Jerry repeatedly say he wasn’t making most of the decisions, I just don’t know what a new GM accomplishes.
I honestly think it’s irrelevant who they hire as GM next. They have about the same chance of success here as my 4 year old would.
It seems like the best chance is if a diehard STR member dates one of Vivek’s sons and stages a coup of the franchise. I don’t see another way for this franchise to be competent
Sad but true. Unless Vivek backs off or sells it’s shitsville forever. It’s really gross.
I think I’ll be out if Vlade becalmed GM/or Viveks kid etc. Cause this is where we are headed.
I know this is a joke but I think you may be onto something.
Sadly yes. And nothing wrong w Monte. Vivek killed another GM
Fuck
You
Vivek
I read that as he quit. He wasn’t fired. The timing of it happening within an hour of the game backs that up, IMO.
Monte was itchin to get out of there.
Heck I would have quit the second the Brown debacle went down. Monte will be fine. Nobody is blaming him for this mess.
No one is happier than Mike Brown getting two years of paid vacation time.
Sounds like he could be the new Suns coach! Not sure that’s much of an improvement lol.
Sun zoner might be the only owner worse than Vivek. Or at the very least he’s a bigger scumbag. The Vivek is close.
Ishbia is new owner syndrome on steroids. Vivek doesn’t get that excuse anymore.
Right. Vivek has been a shitty on her for many years. Good point. Ishiba just started his rule of shit.
At least Ishbia is willing to take chances and spend money. He had a plan. It blew up on him but he tried something other than tinkering on the edges.
You think all those millions will last two years?
I am blaming him for a lot of it. He’s the GM. This is his roster. If Vivek was backstabbing Monte, then Monte should have quit. I think the “mutual decision” is the Kings playing nice. I’d expect Vivek to call Monte into his office and tell him to his face that he’s fired.
I think he did quit, and the “mutual decision” is the Kings spin to save face. Wilcox and Loucks have already left willingly. Monte is just the next one to jump ship.
“Mutually parted ways” right after the game ends sure sounds like “I quit”. I just don’t think the GM is relevant here. Amick mentioned that Monte wasn’t making many decisions on Carmichael Dave’s show a week ago. I mean maybe that’s not true but the Lavine move just Vivek written all over it. Jerry said on the pod he knew Monte wasn’t behind bringing in Lavine.
You’re the only one blaming McNair. Amick. Jerry etc all know Vivek was running the show.
Then McNair should have grown a pair and stood up to the little runt or quit earlier. I’m not saying it’s all on Monte, not at all. And Monte may have very well been the one to initiate the end of his time here. We will probably know within 48 hours.
I’m not saying Monte is absolved from any blame but the GM position just seems irrelevant in this organization. Which is of course, incredibly stupid but alas…
Vivek should just name himself as GM. But I think he likes having someone to blame when it goes to shit.
I agree! He should put his name on this stuff and just own it. At this point I think everyone is blaming him anyway.
Oh, we are! He’s the one constant in 12 years. From Demarcus to Demar.
Thank god this season is over. Can we please get sell the team chants going next season. This team has no direction and really never has with Vivek running the team. How many times do we have to watch teams become good, bad, then good again to learn we gotta have a plan and build through collecting draft picks?
I’ll be honest. I’m glad they lost. Didn’t watch it but I thought this would be the funniest outcome and I think it was. And hey, if we get lucky we’ll have a coin flip to keep our pick. I’ll take it.
From the moment you rolled out a bitter rival as partial owner, I knew you were a moron.
Would love to see that at games next year. Billboards. Anything to make Vivek uncomfortable.
problem is, basketball owners, don’t need the fans anymore to make money
Huh, wonder what this is about….
https://x.com/SeanCunningham/status/1912739174190284801?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Wouldn’t be shocked if Christie is gone too. But we’ll see.
Nah. I bet the plan is Doug, Vlade and bring Back any other firmer kings they can get with Viveks son as GM.
Dallas cowboys model. Father and son GM
That is DARK.
and crazy thing is, it’s possible.
Ha! By who? There is no one left other than an interim coach and a very little owner.
Anjali is going to do some post-game counseling (wasn’t she getting a doctorate in psychology or something? LOL).
It won’t happen but wouldn’t it be awesome if the whole front office and coaching staff just straight up quit en masse? That would be awesome. Just the ultimate middle finger to ownership.
Seriously, the only ones left it Doug and Jay. If they walk, then it’s just Vivek and his nameless sycophants.
Dave is on Twitter publicly calling for Vivek to come on the show and explain what’s going on. It does feel like people are pretty fed up in a way I don’t remember. Being bad forever isn’t what pisses people off. Being good for one year then destroying the team REALLY pisses people off. Hope is the killer.
I hope kings fan can/do rise up. Billboards. Protests etc. Make Vivek feel it.
I threw in a few bucks for a billboard before and I’ll definitely do it again.
I’m in for $147. The amount I paid for a lower corner ticket last week. SMFH
I think he felt it with the boos tonight and Sell the Team chants.
I sure hope so.
Good. Didn’t know there were well the team chants. That’s very effective
Was working and couldn’t watch the game. Was there really sell chants??
Be good to let the orher minority owners know that they are embarrassing themselves by putting their faith in a complete fucking moron too.
When we were doing the prep work on the HereWeBillboard it was to call out vivek.
Carmichael Dave defended him and convinced us we should focus on Vlade instead. And dumb me bought what he was selling.
Welcome over to the bright side, Dave. You’re late.
Agreed that was frustrating and I haven’t forgotten it. It sure feels like something is different now. Most Sac media folks were going in on Vivek pretty hard last night in a way I don’t remember.
I have the following question: Is it different for today because of the loss and the lost season and it all gets swept under the rug or will the local media continue to be critical of Vivek for the long term. My guess is it will only be for the short term. Vivek and the Kings have a lot of influence over the local media. If the local media wants to continue to have “insider” access they will need to play by Viveks rules.
And 1: ill throw in, and yes I know Dave reads this forum and he may or may not blast me for saying this, but publicly Dave will toe the corporate line. He’ll say just enough to show his disdain as a fan but then move the conversation to paint the organization with a positive hue.
Too bad this conversation got lost in a cascade of articles.
I’d say yes except Vivek would just decide to coach the team. Did he ever tell you about his 8th grade girls team he coached?
Honestly, that would be good! Then everyone would laugh in his face and he might get shamed into getting out of the way. Public shame goes a long way sometimes.
Greg, I’m just grateful that you don’t have to do any more of these write ups for a while. Lost 3 of our 4 final home games. Gotta suck having to write anything after that. Time for a full rebuild. There isn’t a single player that I’d insist on keeping to “build around”.
True that. I can’t imagine having to write these.
It is almost comical… how badly Vivek has messed this team up. Almost like he’s trolling us.
Pick up DDR/unneeded piece on a team that needed pieces. Fire coach. Trade best player. Get not near enough in trade and addressed zero issues. In fact, trade made more issues.
Insist on going for playin sure loss rather than keep pick. And bring Vlade back around. Fire GM……
It’s every wrong move and everything down wrong. Youuuuur Sacramento Kings
And parading Vlade, Peja, and Mike Bibby around like they accomplished anything. I wasn’t here in Sac until 2007 so while I know they had some decent teams, they never even made it to a Finals.
The Matina effect
In fairness, not making an NBA Finals had more to do with Tim Donaghy than those Kings teams.
I’ll never forget Kobe breaking Bibby’s nose, and Bibby being called for the foul. It was clear at that point that the fix was in.
12 seasons as NBA Governor of the Sacramento Kings franchise and one playoff appearance.
Whew! That’s just plain stanky.
The NBA has found a way to offload bad team owners: Donald Sterling finally was removed, George Shinn as well, and most recently Glen Taylor, Robert Sarver, and Michael Jordan. Put the Maloofs in there, and Chris Cohan, too.
At some point, I have to believe the Board of Governors of the NBA have to say enough is enough and step in to set up and encourage the sale of a consistently poorly run franchise like Sacramento. Will it have to be 15 seasons, 20 seasons?
We need the NBA to step in way way more than the process 76ers did.
Are we ready to come to terms that Sabonis won’t win us a lot of games? The players that need to surround him can’t be had. Three post season duds for him
You cannot build around Sabs but he can be a part of a contender/champ. But, as much as I enjoy Sabonis, I never thought the Kings shoulda traded for a non shooter-along w Fox
I bet he’s gone
Once teams figured out how to defend the DHO and force him to the right, he’s been less effective. That and Demar and Zach being complete ball stoppers.
His shot was so convincing earlier in the year. He didn’t even look at the basket tonight on the perimeter.
I’m convinced that reason he gets so many rebounds is that the rest of our players are too short and don’t really try to get them. Carter seems to make an effort but what’s a 6’2” gonna do?
It’s probably the game plan for him to grab the board and run the break/outlet pass but I honestly don’t know that he’s a great passer. Everyone calls him Jokic lite and he’s literally Arvydas’s son but I don’t see the same court vision or even half of what those two have.
Thank God that…
The Kings have just signed Jeremy Lamb to a Max contract and will be the first Player/GM combo.
It always ends the same.
I’m going to be optimistic and say the Kings get the number 1 pick because GM Vlade will probably come back just in time to pass on Cooper Flagg…oh wait
Lol can you imagine?
The nba would need to contract the league to 29. No relocation. Just contract lol
For real. I feel like the only way out of this is relegation. Maybe we need some time in the G-League.
And pick Malcolm Bagley.
Fuck it, we deserved this loss.
That was embarrassing. Hope that a number of the players we saw today, won’t suit up for the Kings next year. Pathetic.
After hearing his postgame comments, pretty sure you can put DDR on the list of Kings players who will have their agents demand them a trade asafp.
Hope so. Tear it all down and start over.
I don’t count the play in as the playoffs. So we just ended year 2 of another drought.
I’m excited for the future! Let’s go!!!!
I can certificate that Sabonis is a coward…..he is just weak, cannot have the gut to play and survive in big game.
Hopefully he would be gone along with Zach and DeMar and his good partner, Monk….
Devin Carter has big heart, and not afraid to take shots….hopefully he is the only one left for the whole roster
Sabonis isn’t good in big games or playoff basketball. The thought that team would be on a better path by spending $100mm per year for a Big 2 of Sabonis and Fox is almost as silly as drafting Marvin Bagley over Luka.
After 20+ moves, this year’s team ended up ONE game worse than last year’s team …. No playin win this year, LOL.
I hope that Doug Christie gets a place with new head coach. I think Doug Christie can be a very good head coach someday, but he was put in a tenuous position. A very unbalanced roster, losing your second best player who could at least facilitate I believe that the need to win immediately created some inconsistent decision-making versus having a team to start the season with where you can put things into action. I don’t believe the offense we saw is one that Doug would have wanted to run. I believe he probably would’ve rather had an offense similar to PeteCarrils Princeton offense that takes advantage of a center that can pass and players that can cut with a few shooters. I don’t mind seeing Monte go . Debo, while a great player was not the right fit for this team. I believe it stunted the offensive growth of Keegan left us challenged at the forward spot. Look at all the players we could have drafted after Davion that would have been better for the team Sengun, Zaire Williams , Jalen Johnson, Trey Murphy 3, Herbert Jones..beef stew.. and I don’t understand the Devon Carter pick I’m hoping for the best but I would’ve taken Dalton Knect, Jared McCain if I was going to draft a guard. But if I was drafting, I would’ve gone off of need and would’ve gone after Tristan DeSilva, Daron, Holmes or Ware in that order.
Sell the Team!
The only way, and I mean only way, that this situation changes for the better requires 3 things.
Unfortunately, none of those things will happen. Vivek seems to think he’s on the right track. And he probably is, since it seems his goal is to be an owner, make money, and provide jobs for his kids.
Sad, you’re not wrong. If it was me, I’d keep Murray, Ellis and Lavine. Everyone else on the move to get younger with roster construction that makes a bit of sense… a PG would be great!
Too bad we picked Carter over Ware in ‘24 because Ware is exactly the kind of big we need in the middle.
I’d also probably keep Monk, unless a great offer is made. Lavine has to stay because nobody will want to take on that contract.
I like Monk and Lavine can at least shoot the ball, but if Domas is gone and 3 of your 4 best players are SG who are 6’3” or 6’4” …. Not sure where to turn
Domas doesn’t deserve to be here for the bigger dumpster fire. Trade him for assets, DeRozan for what you can get, probably Monk. Try to move Lavine for assets. The draft is the only way this city will get stars. And for the love of all that’s holy, make good draft choices. The list of players the Kings “could:” have drafted makes me sick. And I’m not just talking recent choices. I used to have a document that had all the picks and players of note picked after them. Disheartening is a massive understatement.
Passed on Luka, traded Ty for Domas to keep Fox …. we had a gift opportunity to draft a generational player and lucked into an Elite player to build around, yet ended up here. I remember the list of huge misses beginning in 2009 — pretty insane the # of first ballot HOF’ers the FO would miss on by 1 or 2 picks …. Tyreke over Steph, T-Rob over Lillard, Jimmer over Klay and Kawhi, rinse & repeat forever. Sad, sad franchise.
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