Sacramento Kings started the season with high expectations hoping to be able to make the postseason for the first time in 16 years. The Kings’ playoff drought is the longest in the NBA, and the franchise was hoping to put an end to it under a new front office runner in Monte McNair.
Once again, that was not enough for the struggling California franchise. On Monday, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Kings parted ways with interim head coach Alvin Gentry after finishing the season with a 30-52 record. Sacramento started its 2021-22 regular season run under Luke Walton before Gentry took over in November.
“The entire Kings organization is grateful for the leadership of Alvin Gentry, who stepped up when he got the call mid-season,” said McNair. “We appreciate his leadership on and off the court.”
Gentry’s departure means that the Kings will be on their 12th different coach since Rick Adelman coached the team from 1998-2006 – and none of the 11 coaches since Adelman finished their time with a winning record.
The Kings went 24-41 with Gentry as the team struggled to score (109.9 Off Rtg) and defend (115.3 Def Rtg). The front office tried to improve the team in the trade deadline by bringing in Domantas Sabonis from Indiana in exchange for sophomore guard sensation Tyrese Haliburton.
The improvement as a team was not significant, but, star point guard De’Aaron Fox seemed to have better chemistry with Sabonis and rookie defensive specialist Davion Mitchell, who replaced Haliburton in the Kings’ starting lineup. At the top of that, the Kings acquired Donte DiVincenzo from Bucks to add another good perimeter defender in the mix.
In the last 15 games, Fox and Sabonis appeared in just four games handing Mitchell the keys of the team as the starting playmaker. Over his final 15 games, Mitchell averaged 17.6 points and 7.6 assists per game while shooting 46.1 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from 3-point range.
“We all know Davion is probably the hardest worker that we have all probably seen outside of maybe Kobe,” Fox said of Mitchell during his exit interview.
DiVincenzo has also played in all 15 contests as the Kings tried to evaluate his fit with the team. The former Bucks swingman will be a restricted free agent this summer. The Kings will be a different team next season, but, the four-man play of Fox, Sabonis, Mitchell and DiVincenzo could be a good start for a franchise, which had it rough in the last 15 years.
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