Sacramento Kings Have the Right Talent But Need a Culture Shift

KINGS HAVE THE RIGHT TALENT BUT NEED A CULTURE SHIFT

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The Sacramento Kings don’t have a bad team, but they sure are playing like it. After a nine-game losing streak, the Kings own a 12-20 record and are currently in line to land another top-5 pick. They’ve recently used top-5 picks on De’Aaron Fox and Marvin Bagley in hopes of avoiding falling back into that position again, but the Kings squad is almost certainly going to miss the playoffs for the 15th consecutive season after the Peja Stojakovic-led Kings made eight straight postseasons, ending in 2006.

Vlade Divac was a key component to those competitive Kings squads, and was brought in to be the leading personnel decision-maker in Sacramento to bring the capital of California back to glory. However, he hasn’t had much success to show for it. He deserves credit for drafting De’Aaron Fox with the fifth overall pick a few years ago, but selecting Bagley second overall right in front of Luka Doncic at No.3 in 2018 will forever live on as one of the worst draft decisions in NBA history. Despite one of the worst cultures in place, Divac has still put together a competent roster in Sac-Town. 

After all, they have as many players (6) scoring in double-digits as the No.1 seeded Jazz this season (t-most in the NBA). The depth chart contains quality starters across the board (Fox, Bagley, Buddy Hield, Harrison Barnes, and Richaun Holmes) who could all be valuable contributors on a championship-caliber club, plus he landed one of the steals in the draft as Tyrese Haliburton is already one of the best, most efficient sixth men in the league with a bright future ahead of him.

While the roster could be a lot better, the real problem seems to lie on the coaching front. Luke Walton was brought in after an unsuccessful three-year tenure in Los Angeles and he’s carried that inability to win over with him across the state to Sacramento. The talent simply isn’t playing as well as the sum of its parts. 

Nemanja Bjelica‘s situation is bizarre as a solid player who wants out after seeing his role get diminished. Bogdan Bogdanovic was a key part of the team’s young core but joined a different losing team with nothing to show for it. Hassan Whiteside has had performances this season where he looks like a top-5 Center and then on other nights, he’ll get a Coach’s DNP. Jabari Parker was a top-2 pick and while his NBA career hasn’t been very impressive, it’s shocking to see him only be worthy of playing two games for the worst team in the league. 

There are a variety of problems occurring in central-Cali, and it’s now in the spotlight after a nine-game losing streak. Most, if not all of the issues seem to have Luke Walton or Vlade Divac attached, and it appears to be time to try a new management tandem to usher in a fresh culture that can build winning habits. 

GM Leon Rose and HC Tom Thibadeau in New York serve as a great template for how SAC can turn this around, but they’ll need to find a respected executive and HC that can lead this franchise back to prominence because the current leaders aren’t getting it done and it’s time for a culture shift in California.