Vlade Divac and the Sacramento Kings have mutually agreed to part ways after 5 years under his leadership, according to The Athletic's Sam Amick .
Kings GM Vlade Divac is stepping down, source tells @TheAthleticNBA. Joe Dumars (advisor previously) will be interim executive VP of basketball ops and immediately assumes GM duties. Dumars will be involved in the search for a new GM.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) August 14, 2020
Amick reports the Joe Dumars will take over GM duties for the team, and a full search will be conducted for a permanent replacement.
While Divac was originally a celebrated hire after Pete D'Alessandro's disastrous time in Sacramento, and signed a lucrative 4-year extension this past summer, his lack of experience at the position and questionable decision-making saw the Kings fail to make significant progress in the half-decade of his reign, compiling a record of just 162-238. Although Divac's entire tenure was replete with regrettable outcomes, his most recent choice to replace Dave Joerger, the franchise's most successful coach in more than a decade, with the unproven Luke Walton, while also not conducting a single interview, turned even the most his most faithful fans against him, as the team severely regressed under Walton's leadership. Vlade Divac will always hold a legendary place within the franchise as a key player and international ambassador of basketball, but it was past time for Vivek Ranadive to move on from his services, despite the enormous financial cost.
This is a developing story, and we'll update the site as additional news is made available.
Update: The Kings have confirmed the news via press release:
This was a difficult decision, but we believe it is the best path ahead as we work to build a winning team that our loyal fans deserve, said Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadive. We are thankful for Vlade's leadership, commitment and hard work both on and off the court. He will always be a part of our Kings family.
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as the General Manager for the Kings, said Vlade Divac. I want to thank Vivek for the opportunity and recognize all of the incredible colleagues who I had the great pleasure of working with during my tenure. Sacramento and the Kings will always hold a special place in my heart and I wish them all the best moving forward.
Update: Marc Spears of ESPN has reported that Joe Dumars will be considered for the permanent GM position, and that the team may not have a management team established before the NBA draft in October, while James Ham of NBCS has reported that the new General Manager will ultimately decide the fate of the rest of Sacramento's front office, although Luke Walton will remain as the team's head coach through next season.
It is possible Dumars could be considered for the Kings GM job if he is interested, a source said.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) August 14, 2020
It’s very possible the Kings GM gig job won’t be filled until after the 2020 NBA Draft, a source said.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) August 14, 2020
I have now confirmed through a league source that Luke Walton will coach the Sacramento Kings next season. He is safe for now.
— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) August 14, 2020
Keep those heads rolling!
If Divac is gone, Walton must be getting fed into a baler even as I type this.
If they replace Vlade without replacing Luke, that might actually be the last straw for me.
But I’m sure that Lose Walton would really like to be hired as GM of the Kings.
He and Dumars aren’t close personal friends, are they? We’re probably safe, only a Laker-at-heart would have hired Walton in the first place, and if there’s one thing Joe Dumars is not, it’s a Los Angeles Laker.
I bet it will be a year before Walton is gone. That way the next GM will have cover for a year, and the owners won’t have to pay two coaches.
We’ll spend the year treating luke like a piñata, the new GM will throw his hands up and say I need to evaluate the team. At the beginning of 21/22 we’ll have a new coach.
Regardless, it’s time to sell everything. No time to evaluate cause Luke is our coach. even if we had LEbron we’d miss the playoffs next year. By 21/22 the core guys of this team will be around 30. No coach worth his salt will want to walk into that situation.
If the next GM likes Fox go ahead and try and build around him with young guys. But there is no reason anyone outside of Fox and Bagley (just cause he has no trade value) isn’t moved for assets. And if you can get something of value for Bagley hallelujah. I just don’t see that happening. Better to hope he can get healthy/better
If only…
I also don’t like suggesting that Walton was unproven when he was hired. He was unequivocally proven to be a loser and franchise-killer.
Man, I have a lot to say.
Maybe you just have to “Stick around and be patient”, as Luke says.
(where’s the sarcasm button here?)
Get used to it, we have another year of it at minimum.
Get it out my man.
Who should be next on the chopping block?
Since Luke’s apparently safe for at least 1 more season, I’d say Matina. I hope that both of them are gone ASAP.
With Vlade gone, I wonder how long Peja stays. Can anyone tell me exactly what he does?
Good riddance he now has given me the 2 most painful memories as a king passing on Luka what should have been a slam dunk of a pick after the lottery gods gifted us the 2 spot, and passing to a wide open Robert Horry. I understand not making a call on Luke until a hire has been made and really hope he is next.
Should Breaking News get the special color of attention? Flashing red with a klaxon?
I can finally have my memories of Vlade the player without the GM Vlade peepee stink on them.
Needed to happen way sooner, but still makes me a bit sad. I wish him the best.
Luke next, please.
Yeah, vlade’s time as a gm tainted his time as a player for me. Now, I don’t quite feel as bad. Still need more changes to come for me to feel better about the state of the organization.
i think if the luka thing had just not happened, i’d be fine
Or traded down, got bagley and porter jr.
If the stink isn’t coming off of Isiah Thomas, it sure as hell isn’t coming off of Divac.
Which legacy will you have in your gauzy memories? The time his team choked in the biggest game in franchise history, or the time he passed up on a consensus likely All-NBA-caliber player in Luka?
At least Thomas got rings.
I gotta say, I wish I could celebrate the man as a player.
But some of his actions on the management side tarnish that – and not necessarily the Doncic miss, but his support of all types of bad behavior, whether that was DMC’s ongoing personality issues, Rondo’s gay bashing, or helping Walton bury his sexual assault complaint. It wasn’t just the poor drafting and roster management.
Absolutely. His moral fiber showed, and not in a good way.
And still people are sucking his shoelaces and telling what a wonderful human being he is.
I have to give Vivek credit, he picked the right guy for living on fan goodwill credit. Amazing how long and how far people fell for it.
People keep saying this?
how can you see Luka tear up the league without cursing Vlade for the next decade or so?
His legacy is tainted for good.
I’ll just selectively forget that like I selectively forget the Horry tip.
“Man, that Kangz GM really bonerfingered that 2018 draft. That guy, you know, what’s his name.”
I have a hard time remembering any of Vlade’s plays other than the Horry tip.
You just have to watch the tape.
(VHS tape from the late 90’s early 00’s, that is!)
You know it
Dang! I never thought this would happen. Sweet, but fleeting, relief
I wish it happened before the 2018 draft.
Er, actually I wish it happened before he was hired!
Too little, two drafts too late. Next on the agenda, a new GM that is told that he/she can’t fire Luke Walton.
Caboclo’d – we are two years away from being two years away. I will double down that no one on the current roster is on the Kings next playoff roster.
Here’s hoping that the new GM is given full autonomy and permission to blow this thing up.
Bye, Vlade.
Seven wasted years now, Vivek. Nice arena, though.
Honestly and with no malice, I would love to see a response from the down voters on this one. Trying to figure out what I mis-stated here.
I downvoted it because I sensed you were wearing pants when you typed it.
Me, too.
I don’t care about getting downvotes, but it would be nice to know the reasoning.
(I gave you a green thumb, by the way. Not a red one!)
Tell you how I look at this, and YMMV here – I consider them someone simply saying “I disagree with your opinion”. At first, I looked at them like they were flags, since that was the only option other than a Rec at…wait, what’s the name of that place?
Yeah, that’s fair. I guess they don’t owe anyone an explanation for why they disagree.
I certainly am guilty of green-thumbing a lot of comments without any explanation! 🙂
I get that. The downvotes don’t bother me – I’d just like to see the alternate take.
Absolutely. Not like you need to worry about your NetRating. ð
You have to look at it like rushing yards … you’re a net 33 yards at the moment.
Wow.
It’s the way it should be and yet I derive no joy from the news.
Still one of my favorite Kings players of all time!
Yeah, I would guess that anyone that has been calling for Vlade’s removal is taking little satisfaction in being right. I would have much preferred that Vlade proved me wrong for doubting him all these years.
I’ve been calling for it since he was hired. There was no way that this wasn’t going to end badly.
It’s a skilled position. That doesn’t mean a former player can’t do it (obviously, many have and done it well). It’s just that there was nothing in his background that indicated he was qualified to do much more than brand ambassador work.
Yeah, if you want to see Vlade as a GM, at least have him play assistant under an experienced mentor for a couple seasons.
Agree whole-heartedly. “Learn while you earn” may work as an apprentice , but it’s not a good choice (…cough, Vivek, cough…) for a GM position.
If he picked Luca we’d be in the playoffs and this town would be on fire. He’d be a hero.
but no. He messed up what I might argue was one of the most obvious picks to ever be resented considering the city, the team history, the GM and his international ties, the owner and his international ties, the Fan buzz, the desire to make it to the playoffs soon, the fact that bogi, one of Lucas Mentors was already here (was primed as Vlade and Peja part 2!) with Giles as Webber and fox as a way faster Bibby) AND… the fact that he was by far the most talented player on the board,
Amazing what one move can do for you. I mean, we might be in the playoffs, and giving him kudos for Fox, Doncic and maybe signing Holmes and Bjelica at bargain rates. The misses wouldn’t be as big of a deal.
Makes me think about Zach Lowe’s podcast focused on the Suns the other day. That franchise made 100 dumbshit moves, and even very recently. But they had Booker, and did a few other things right. His guest noted that the Suns just had a bunch of bites at the apple, and drafting Ayton and Bridges and dealing for Saric has corrected a lot of those bad moves.
Yeah, a series of good moves in relative proximity can make up for a lot of mistakes.
Damn, so true. We gotta let it go though, it’s been over.
It’s mixed feelings.
it is relief that a necessary thing happened and sadness that it was necesary.
It is a tiny sense of pride since the #HereWeBillboard may have been one of the drops that caused the bucket to overflow. But also apprehension on the question if they’ll bring in the right people this time.
It is frustration that it is too late and Luka is forever lost to us. It is hope because that bitch springs eternal and keeps sucking me back in every time I am almost out.
Luka lost forever? You just know whoever is GM here when Doncic is thirty-five and coming off of his fourth knee-replacement surgery is going to offer him a max contract.
But he would still out-perform Bagley (assuming he is still in NBA)
No mixed feelings here. Divac set this franchise back a decade. He was atrocious and should have been fired awhile back. He let his ego fuck things up.
Unfortunately, it will likely take Vivek leaving to change the course of this franchise but if they hire a non-Dumars GM maybe ???
And how many fucking times is Vivek not going to allow a GM to pick his coach?
Agreed, this is regrettable but inevitable.
Yeah. (sigh)
I don’t like to see people lose their jobs, and Vlade still has a special place in my heart as a player.
And also there’s no joy in seeing the direction of the Kings are going still. Joe Dumars isn’t going to be saving this franchise.
Vivek still has a lot of learning to do. If he will only let himself learn.
He only lost his job, he’s still being paid for another three years.
Tis the Kings way…
Vlade’s tenure as GM has been so terrible that I derive some joy from this. However, my suspicion that Vivek &/or Matina has actually made many, most or all of the basketball decisions during his tenure prevents me from feeling completely joyful about this.
Yeah, for me Vlade’s departure is more relief than joy.
The joy will come when we have an ownership that knows how to run a competitive basketball franchise.
Soooo happy to see him step down. This team needs a real GM.
Thanks for trying, Vlade. You did some damage, but still got love for you.
Haha, Divac “stepped down” in the same way that Benito Mussolini did.
Loved the player. Hated the GM.
YESSS!!!
Highlight of 2020
Luke next!
Would love that, but my guess is that Walton is around for at least another year.
If the new GM goes full Hinkie (or IS full Hinkie), he will spend the next couple of years deconstructing the roster. If that happens, there is no reason to fire Walton and hire another coach to lose games.
If the new GM thinks that there is a talent base to build off of, Walton will get at least one year to produce results.
Unlike Divac, I don’t think that Walton has any intentions of “stepping down,” and I don’t think the Kings will fire him. But we can dream.
Wanna bet the new GM is Joe Dumars?
You thinking he Dick Cheneys this thing?
I searched high and low and just can’t seem to find a viable candidate for the job, but you know, I did win a championship in Detroit and I do have some free time on my hands…
You know Sims, that’s exactly how Vlade got his job.
Also, how dare you bring Dick Cheney up at a time like this? I had almost gotten him out of my collective conscious…..
Please no…….oh God please no…..
I think if he wants to do it, it’s probably his. Or Peja. Yeah, it’s definitely going to be Peja.
That would be the Kangz way wouldn’t it.
Wouldn’t you want to hire someone who is rising in the coaching ranks, that hasn’t gotten his or her shot yet? If we’re doing a full rebuild, lets get someone who doesn’t think they already know everything.
That being said, Mark Fucking Jackson.
Eh, the coach for the next couple of years is going to be Eddie Jordan’d. He’s going to be the coach before THE coach.
I’ll pack Walton’s bags, but I don’t see the organization paying for two head coaches when the team is so obviously lottery material next season.
Everyone knows that when you kill the father, you have to kill the son, or he’ll take his revenge one day.
Jesus, if Walton is going to be a lame duck for the next 1-3 years, how will the team look when he’s not trying?
I don’t think a team could lose all eighty-two games in a season, but if it happens, Lose Walton will oversee it.
Which would translate into better lottery odds.
This is going to be a bad team regardless. The organization is going to look at that and ask why pay for two coaches?
I’m wondering why having one of the assistants step up in the interim is not an option. I’d rather have Roy Rana getting a shot and developing players over Bill Walton’s kid yammering about watching tape.
Sure, most fans would. But Walton / no Walton is not going to make a difference at the gate or in the standings, so what’s the point? That is going to be the way that the organization looks at it.
No way Cool-Bland Luke lasts more than a year.
It’s unlikely that Luke will last more than 1 more season, but it might happen if the Kings tank.
Mark Jackson would be sweet
No.. NOOOOOOO…dammit…NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
…somewhere else.
If we tank for a draft pick, Walton is the perfect coach for 1 more year
You know Walton could still fuck it up, though. We’ll win just enough games to get the #14 pick.
Kings need to start losing and get picks #TrustTheLosses
Looks like Vivek read Tony’s article today and realized how much money Vlade’s cost him.
Can we please hold a normal GM candidate search and hire someone who can actually draft?
Tony’s next article: “Vivek can’t afford to not hold a normal GM candidate search.”
And for Tony’s third in the trilogy
-Vivek can’t afford being the owner of the Kings
Joe Dumars and Vivek will be choosing our next GM…
At least they aren’t just going to run with Dumars.
Oh fuck.
Well…. uh….
Oh you sweet summer child!