The Athletic conducted a poll of NBA insiders on the best and worst owners in the league, resulting in Sacramento Kings chairman Vivek Ranadive being named the worst owner in the NBA. The full poll can be found here (subscription required).
First, a note on the methodology. The survey polled 31 people. 13 were executives, 10 were front office personnel, six were scouts, and two were coaches. It’s a nice cross section of different roles, but hardly a big enough sample group to be difinitive, especially since the leading vote-getters for worst owner were all pretty tightly clumped in the voting (Vivek edged out Robert Sarver by half a vote).
The criticisms included with the votes are probably the more important take-away.
Talk about a chaotic organization, one agent said.
He seems like he’s trying too much to be Jerry Jones, said one front office exec.
His intentions are good but in terms of hiring the basketball people and letting them do their work, he both hires bad basketball people and doesn’t let them do their work, an executive said. That’s a bad combination.
None of these complaints seem out of line, and echo the complaints that some Kings fans have made.
Despite that, I take issue with Vivek being named the worst. On the basketball side, which this is clearly focused on, Vivek has been very unsuccessful. But beyond the on-court results, Vivek has been a fantastic owner. Vivek and his ownership group delivered a beautiful arena, have been active in the community, and have championed social change, and Vivek has been at the forefront of those things. That shouldn’t be overlooked.
I’d much rather have Vivek than James Dolan, who clearly wasn’t viewed as negatively by agents because of his willingness to overpay players on a constant basis. Fortunes have been made by agents convincing the Knicks to overpay middling stars for the past 20 years. But those off-court factors should matter.
I wasn’t surprised to see Vivek on the list, and the criticisms are valid. Hopefully this sort of negative press can be a wake-up call for Vivek and the other meddling members of Kings ownership to finally get out of the way and allow Monte McNair the time, money, and autonomy to turn this franchise around.
100% agree with the voting, on multiple fronts
Dolan is #1 with a bullet. After that, Vivek sits on the next step of the basement stairs with such luminaries as Glen Taylor & Robert Sarver, with Tilman Fertitta closing in fast.
It is hard to argue the worst ranking when viewed solely through the lens of on-court results, though I would still give the nod to Dolan – it takes gross mismanagement to be that bad in a market that is that big.
Jeebus! How long has it been since we’ve rated this team and its components from the top-down instead of from the bottom-up? Seems like forever.
Completely agree at least about Dolan, who, as an embarrassment to the NBA is not far now from rivaling Don Sterling, and Fertitta, emerging P.O.S. Vivek’s just in over his head.
It would be nice if we could get Carmichael Dave to elaborate on his “now is not the time” and “look at the whole chessboard” when those billboard clowns were raising money for the #herewebillboard
I’d give Dolan the edge over Vivek, but a .338 winning percentage, 5 coaches, 3 GM’s, and several advisors in just 7 seasons is pretty pathetic.
Vivek goes through staff faster than some heads of state.
FIFY
Fortunes have been made by agents convincing the Kings to overpay middling stars for the past 7 years.
Fun fact, George Hill made 42% of his career earnings on the contract he signed with the Kings under Vlade. He played just 43 games for the Kings.
How much bad press does it take for an owner to change his ways?
Self reflection is for peasants
“I surround myself with sycophants.”
That’s how I wound up the way that I am – I’m sick of pants, too.
Every night before I go to bed I pray Monte has 100% control over basketball decisions.
Vivek has been awful. Maybe not the worst but awful. And Matina deserves her share of the blame.
We’ve known this for years, now everybody knows it. At least the Kings are still in Sacramento, you have to give him that among other good things he’s done.
I’m surprised it was so close between him and his competition. He should have run away with the title.
Fake news! Looked directly at the eclipse with no glasses. Eye doctors and the blind know nothing!
Howdy, Doodie!
It’s weird to think that the concept of whether or not it’s acceptable to shoot unarmed people is a political thing.
yeah, totally that simple haha
It really is.
Oh stop it, please.
People saying Dolan is worse are missing the bigger point that Vivek has shown to develop a toxic work culture in the FO in all 7 years he’s been here. Coupled with the inherent problems the Sac market has, the Kings will not have success with Vivek running the show. Vivek does not have the temperament or acumen to run a basketball organization in Sacramento.
I wish there was would’ve been a clause when he became the managing owner that if the team hadn’t made the playoffs after 10 years, controlling ownership would pass to the next in line.
Jesus, if basketball acumen was required to own a franchise, there wouldn’t be a team in any sport with a winning record.
Acumen on how to hire qualified people is really the problem
Charles Oakley is holding on line 1 – he would like a word with you.
Worst, bottom three. My point is it really doesn’t matter.
Also he brought on Shaq as an owner which isn’t as bad as the Oakley incident but in the same vein of being clueless about his team’s history.
The Shaq thing might’ve been the first red flag. I can’t remember too far back now. But ugh, that was ughly.
Vivek’s athlete worship is one of the worst/saddest parts of his ownership.
Ugh. Still mad about the Shaq thing. The absolute temerity of expecting us to welcome the “Sacramento Queens” guy.
I did get a shaqramento bobblehead out of the deal!
Spike Lee on line #2
Actually great take
I agree that Vivek isn’t the worst, that has to go to Dolan for sure, but I’d argue for 2nd worst being in the realm of possibility.
But I disagree that off-court issues should be factored in as much as it is implied in the article. Yes, those are important issues that need to be addressed and are much better at getting the ball rolling, publicity, or action on them when they have a higher profile person talking about it than someone like me, joe schmoe, or at least get a conversation about it going. But as an owner of a sports team, the first commitment is to that team and not other things. Can stuff outside of basketball be included? Absolutely. But his record thus far as an owner and frankly the front person for the team, he is terrible.
Forgot to add, this isn’t to downplay the huge success he had in getting the team to stay in Sac and getting a new arena built. I will always be thankful for that. But since then….not good.
Vivek hired architects and construction experts to build the arena. Then he basically hired himself to run the basketball team. Results on both fronts have been predictable.
I thought you hated when anyone brought up politics on this website?
Sure, the organization has had some rough patches in recent centuries, but I agree with you that guys like Dolan (and probably Fertitta going forward) are a lot worse.
If Vivek can just let McNair work and stay out of the way, his terrible ranking could easily improve.
No one is as terrible as Jerry Jones. No one.
It doesn’t matter if vivek is the absolute worst owner or merely the third worst. At this point in his managing partnership or whatever he’s called at this point in his reign he is worse than the Maloofs up and until the point where they needed to bleed every spare dollar out of the franchise in order to offset their Los Vegas casino losses.
In my POV the Kings will never achieve anything meaningful until he is entirely out of BB decisions. The ownership has already made a large profit on their real estate investments and on the incredible increase in the value of the Kings which has little to do with vivek. Every principle owner has seen their investment in a NBA franchise skyrocket over the last decade.
Personally I hold vivek entirely responsible for the lowly state of the Kangz and until he proves me wrong (which I doubt he will do) I expect little real improvement in on court results in the ream we are invested in.
I’m surprised Vivek finished that high.
I want to know how much Dolan had to pay the reporters/agents for them to not put him at the last spot haha. Vivek is a bad basketball ops owner but shouldn’t be the last guy on the naughty list.
How about a TKH poll:
Upvote if you agree with The Athletic and think Vivek is the worst. Downvote if you think he is not the worst.
Sneaky! Trying to stack the upvotes.
Drat! haha 😛
CoreyBrewersD with the check!
I WON THIS VOTE COUNT. BY A LOT!!!
Since I tend to think tiers are more useful than a numerical ranking, I’d agree that Vivek is easily in the bottom tier of basketball owners.
We won something!!!
We have been so lost for so long, we have forgotten how it feels to win. Let’s wear this crown with pride!
We have been so lost for so long, we are experts in draft profiles for the next 6 years, basically have PhD’s in relocation laws, and get royalties from any other fanbase that attempts to make a Cash Considerations meme or gif.
I can make decisions for the teams direction ..
Hang it next to the Summer League banner!
At this point all that’s left is for us to rank all Sacramento Kings owners:
This should be an article, with the “features & benefits” of each ownership recapped. It is so difficult to reconcile the golden years with the relocation saga. Man, what a great question!
If I was ‘Sacramento Kings’ and was trying to get a new job, I might edit my resume’ from:
to:
Jim Thomas was by far the best owner … he was not good. Not good at all. 4 bad groups.
Do you go for the groups that brought the team to Sac, the groups that kept the team in Sac, or the only group that actually built a good team?
My memory is fuzzy, but I think Jerry Reynolds always praises Gregg Lukenbill and said he should probably get a statue, if anyone in Sacramento Kings history did, for the monumental achievement in bringing the Kings to Sacramento.
Correct me if I’m wrong, anybody. I have a vague memory of something like that being said….from a podcast??
Not shocking that he’d say that about the people that hired him for two major jobs. They brought the team here. The were nice people. They had the epic go into the rafters and try to fix the leak move. But, they were not good owners by NBA standards. It was a mess and not run well. They hired Bill Russell, who was an all time stretch and horrible GM. Traded for Sampson. Glad they got Sacramento a team … but that’s about it.
It’s probably:
FTM!!!
I thank that the Lukenbill group deserves Number One due to bringing the first major sports team to Sac with zero help from mayor and built two arenas with no public money ! Just a thought and very rare to not eat at the Govt trough !
I wonder if it still chaps the Maloofs’ collective asses that Petrie’s shrewd GM’ing ruined their shot to try and move the team back in the late 90’s
It gets scary when you look at the GMs. After Petrie, you get to choose from Axelson, Russell, Reynolds, PDA, and Vlade. No wonder our cavalcade of coaches leaves a lot to be desired.
More a cortège than a cavalcade.
This forced me to open the dictionary and look up “a”.
I understand how charitable works, helping others, and working with the community are offensive, but since this is entirely about BLM, you may as well just lead with that, Chad.
It’s a complicated legacy, and he deserves full credit and responsibility for it.
As a basketball fan, I’m extremely disappointed and frustrated with basketball ops and the on-court results. As a human being, I must give him his due commendations for the off-court work he’s undertaken and for putting the heft of an NBA team’s image behind it.
With any luck, this is a shot in the arm to Vivek. For all his faults, the man does seem to want to win, and seems at least aware of the opinions of his actions. Here’s hoping he takes from the other half of the article if you want to be liked, pick smart people, spend money and otherwise stay away.
At this point, his arm looks like a pin cushion, with little or no effect.
Many? Can we really describe that subset as “many?”
“silent majority”, or something like that.
For people who are supposed to be silent, they sure are loud.
Props to the TKH crew for having Matina being the most prominent figure in the pic. Straight Dick Cheney style.
I still don’t understand the Matina thing. There was one article that talked about her, and that she has influence in the organization and “knew where the bodies were buried,” common for people in property development families in my experience (they’re often involved in the dirty deals involving local government.)
But I really don’t know how that translated into blaming her for bad basketball ops and on-court outcomes. Unless there’s pieces to the story I’m missing it seems more like some at TKH (and others) have taken a small amount of information and turned it into some bigger narrative/internet conspiracy theory, like how George Soros and prominent Democrats consume aborted fetuses or whatever.
I’m not mad, I guess it’s kind of amusing. It just seems like more people are convinced this is the case than I would expect. Or you are all joking and I’m missing it.
AFAIK, she’s the only person who’s worked for the Kings for the entire playoff drought.
Guilt by association? Has been the hatchet?
You know, most of the chuds stayed on the other site, in case you missed the memo and would like someone to pat you on the back for this sort of bullshit.
One thing that isn’t mentioned here is that Dolan has substantial deeper pockets than Vivek. So he is not only a bad owner, he doesn’t even have the money to buy himself out of the hole he dug.
Or does anyone believe that Walton is here because of his coaching acumen?
Luke Walton is Bill Walton and Matina Kolokotronis’ lovechild.
Hey, look who’s got the 1000 comment badge!
OH damn. Welp, my usage is high and my efficiency is low.
I like RORDOG’s idea ( I think) of putting our TKH commenter advanced stats like Upvotes:Comment and such.
Nice!
Also, how about:
Turnovers?
(when you fail to beat the clock in trying to edit a comment).
Blocks Against?
(when you get a timeout warning from TKH staff)
Assists?
(when you set up a comment that gets purpled, like when someone mentions breakfast and then Klam hits that Oop with a vicious two handed windmill George Karl slam?)
I have an idea of who would get a badge for the most downvotes.
Does this mean we get a top 3 pick in the next NBA Owners Draft?
Another poll:
If you were a GM, who would you build your NBA team around?
They are both Cool Guys.
Can’t really disagree with the results, but my first question was going to be, “What the hell is an NBA insider?” It’s still a little vague. Could be any level of snarky, low fruit grabbing, pencil pusher around the league. But I really appreciate the deeper dive and attempt at clarity here, Greg. Not sure I can expect more than what you’ve uncovered.
I always thought Sarver is underrated in the crappy owner stakes, selling first round picks meddling etc
I think of Vivek as more of NBA groupie who happens to be an owner. He always paying ex players to hang around with him. Mullins, Vlade, Joe Dumars.
Totally
As far as the basketball side? I think Dolan is worse, but that’s splitting hairs.
On the non basketball side? No way, probably one of the better ones.
What is so interesting about this to me is, as much of a tool that Dolan is, as well as a couple of the others that were mentioned, that when a poll was taken among “insiders”, (and I’m assuming that a percentage of these people, have had some form of dealings with VIvek)they seem to agree that the dismissive little chap is WORSE.
That speaks pretty loudly to me.
Exactly. Just because we as fans would rather have Vivek, the people who have to make deals with the big shots prefer Dolan. That should scare fans.
We hear about Sacramento not being able to attract talent (top GM’s wouldn’t interview here) and it’s not the city’s fault. It’s really Vivek’s. And since we as a city put money into Golden 1, we really do have a right to expect more from this organization.
Because showing support for basic human rights is beyond the pale!
To go all east coast…
I don’t give a flying fuck about the playground dedications, nerd toy leagues, or coloring book fundraisers. I’m here for the games and the wins.
You hire a GM with no experience in today’s complicated professional sports environment, and then EXTEND him while he’s shitting all over his white board, he’s nothing short of an embarrassment, and will likely never climb out of his puppy dog reputation.
Careful….someone might feel triggered after reading that comment.
And then they follow up with “you gotta give Vivek time…he kept the team in Sacramento.!!!!!”
Reading the Athletic article, the top five are Ballmer(LAC), Arison(Mia), Cuban(Dal), Lacob(GS) and Holt(SA). Four of the five are larger market teams, two-three of the five are higher profile (Ballmer and Cuban, with Lacob a step below). The five-for-five element? All five of these guys let their front offices operate with a level of autonomy. I’m sure that these guys all sign off on the deals and probably have questions along the way, but I don’t think that any of these guys ever try to be the lead when it comes to roster construction or coaching. That, more than anything else, is the gulf between these fellows and the bottom feeders.
In regard to Lacob, the Warriors are indeed a larger market team, but the Warriors were considered a peripheral, underfunded, relatively irrelevant franchise for decades until Lacob and Guber purchased the team. They created the team’s current reputation through their good decisions, particularly in regard to hiring skilled management and, as you note, letting them do their jobs.
My point? Vivek and the ownership group could have elevated the Kings in the league as well, even if not to the meteoric extent of the Warriors though good management. Of course, we all know that didn’t happen.
Lacob & Guber deserve plenty of credit, but GS drafted Curry before they bought the team.
The Kings are bad and will remain bad because of their ownership and Matina, which remain the same despite the new GM. Most of the local media knows this, but won’t talk about it. National media writes something that is correct and brings this to the front and fans want to talk about what Vivek does off the court and whether he’s worse than Dolan. That misses the point by a mile. If your garbage man rarely picks up the trash, dumps it all over the lawn when he does, but seems nice and always waves as he drives by … you have a bad garbage man. The mass rush of Kings fans and Kings media to pivot to “really the worst?” is why Sacramento can’t have nice things.
Addition by subtraction, I think is what they call that…
Are you calling “non-liberal Kings fans” racists? That’s what it sounds like.
That’s what I read them as saying. It jives with some previous comments of theirs.
The issue is that Vivek is seen as a bottom 5 owner. Not that he was voted worst. That’s irrelevant.
So being a good person and calling out injustices is politically charged? Your world view is inverted.
Honest question regarding Viveks most infamous moment.
When Vivek went around the Draft Room and said “Stauskas, Stauskas, Stauskas”, did he make the pick or was he just echoing what the GM (PDA) was going to do anyway?
I think PDA would have picked Stauskas, they were leaning towards him over Elfrid Payton. They wanted shooting around Cousins and IT and he was the better shooter.
So the narrative the owner made the pick is exaggerated. You could say he was overly intrusive during the process, I agree with that, but I think it would be incorrect to say he overrode the GM despite the title of this video:
I do not see any indication in this video PDA was partial to Payton. Maybe I missed it, was there any story to this effect after the fact???
PDA had the right instinct by the way, he was trying up to the last minute to trade up for Embiid, the best player in that class.
In terms of Vivek’s most infamous moment, I’m going to have to disagree with you there.
For a period of time and especially as they opened the new arena, the Kings let Vivek put himself out there a little. Interviews with select local media before a season would start. Letting Grandland come in (as above). They would let in a few who were very happy for the interview and/or access and would protect or work around answers were quirky. Cause, dude seems QUIRKY.
It all changed with his “Jazz band interview” when Vivek went full Vivek and they ran it. Was that News 10? I don’t think you can find that ANYWHERE these days.
What he said made NO sense. He seemed like a person, who would actually tell an NBA coach to kick around 4 on 5 basketball. The kind of person that would brag about winning because the team pressed young girls playing in a rec league that had never had a chance to practice a press break because they were instead properly working on fundamental. He was out there.
And with that … the Kings have put him in a vault and tried to keep him away from live mics as much as practical.
Yeah, I’m leaning towards the idea that he hasn’t stepped away from meddling. He’s just stepped away from the spotlight for the time being.
If the Kings ever find success/playoffs, he might possibly be publicly vocal again.
Worst? Nope, Dolan and Sarver are worse than Vivek but he’s getting there especially if he eff up the Tank for Cade.
Honest question:
This is in line with the prevailing feeling of deep gratitude for Vivek for saving the Kings and keeping the team here.
My question is this: Had Vivek not been around, did we still have a chance to find another billionaire to join that ownership group? Wasn’t Kevin Johnson (and his group) trying so hard to find any orher whale or local billionaires that can keep the team here?
It’s analogous to praising Tesla, Edison or any other inventor for their inventions but even without them, I am berybsure somebody else will invent the (almost) same thing.
sorry for the typos..this keypad sucks.
should read I am very sure….
Save us, Burkle! You’re our only hope.
I can also thank Vivek, but to imply that he’s the only (availablle) savior is probably not true.
“On the basketball side, which this is clearly focused on, Vivek has been very unsuccessful. But beyond the on-court results, Vivek has been a fantastic owner.”
Call me old school, but this is how I judge an owner. The Kings record under his ownership clearly justifies the poll results.
My first thought was to call BS because of Nolan. Glad to see him mentioned in the article.
Congrats! Well deserved
Finally getting the credit we deserve!
Don’t understand why anyone here is objecting to Vivek at #1 here, with rationalizations that he has done social justice work. Presumably, the “insiders” polled here are familiar with the social justice work Vivek has led as well as the Mumbai exhibitions to help globalize the league even more. That they would still vote him the worst owner over blowhards like Dolan and reknown cheapskates like Sarver says all there is to say. My guess is they view it from the lens of, who would I want to LEAST work for? If I had to pick beween working for a cheapskate, a rich blowhard who’s not around much because he thinks he’s a musician, and a micromanaging arrogant chap who’s clueless but is un-self-aware about it, kinda broke and surrounds himself with hyper political stooges, I know who I’d pick last.
If Dolan would have only promoted the cherry picking strategy publicly we would have the 2nd worst owner in the NBA… what could have been.
How do you become a millionaire? Start as a billionaire, then buy a losing basketball franchise. NBA 3.0.
Badge Legend