Monte McNair's five-year tenure as the Kings' general manager is over.
McNair and the Kings mutually agreed to part ways, the team officially announced Thursday morning, after The Athletic's Sam Amick first reported the news Wednesday night.
“I want to sincerely thank Monte for his leadership and the invaluable contributions he made during his time in Sacramento,” Kings owner and chairman Vivek Ranadivé said Thursday in the team's official statement. “He helped build a strong foundation for continued success here, and we wish him and his family all the best in their future endeavors.”
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SIGN UP HERE McNair shared his sentiments in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday:
Five years ago, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime. I’ll always be grateful to Vivek and the entire Kings organization for taking a chance on me.
— Monte McNair (@mmcnair) April 17, 2025
The Beam Team brought so much joy to so many. Thank you to the players, coaches, and staff who played such a vital role in…
The news of McNair's ouster comes less than an hour after the Kings' 2024-25 NBA season ended with a blowout Western Conference play-in loss to the Dallas Mavericks at Golden 1 Center.
Sacramento entered the season with high expectations, but the team never recovered from a slow start and everything spiraled after that.
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Less than three months into the season, McNair fired Mike Brown even though the coach had just signed a contract extension over the summer.
Six weeks later, McNair was forced to trade a disgruntled De'Aaron Fox, who didn't want to sign a contract extension with the Kings, to the San Antonio Spurs for Zach LaVine, a move that didn't pay dividends for Sacramento.
As the season went along and the Kings slid down the West standings and into the play-in tournament, other members of the staff started to leave.
In early March, assistant coach Luke Loucks left the Kings to become the Florida State men's basketball head coach.
Two weeks later, McNair's top assistant, Wes Wilcox, accepted the general manager job for the Utah Utes men's basketball program.
And now McNair, hired in September 2020 from the Houston Rockets, is the latest departure.
Whoever inherits McNair's old job has a lot to figure out this summer.
In the aftermath of Fox's trade, star center Domantas Sabonis reportedly plans to gauge the future of the Kings franchise.
While interim head coach Doug Christie is liked by the players, the team struggled to find consistency with him at the helm over the final three and a half months of the season. So Sacramento could look for a new coach this offseason.
And if Sabonis asks out, what does that mean for fellow stars Malik Monk, DeMar DeRozan and LaVine?
The Kings will be busy over the next few months and the first task is to find a new leader of basketball operations.