Joe Dumars’ exit from the Kings’ front office to the NBA boardroom this week might have seemed like odd timing to some, especially considering his involvement in the team’s ongoing coaching search.
The reported reason, however, should settle the issue of who’s calling the shots in Sacramento.
The Athletic’s Sam Amick reported Monday that he was told Dumars, then the Kings’ chief strategy officer, “wanted more direct control over the front office if he was going to return,” including a structure in which general manager Monte McNair reported to him, not owner Vivek Ranadive. That proposal evidently was denied, and Dumars, whose Kings contract was expiring, subsequently left to become the NBA’s executive vice president of basketball operations starting next week.
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So, Dumars’ three-year Kings tenure, during which he reportedly expressed interest in the GM role that eventually went to McNair in 2020, has ended. Amick cited a source with knowledge of the situation in reporting that “it doesn’t appear Dumars’ position will be filled.”
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That leaves McNair, along with Ranadive, to choose the Kings’ next coach among three reported finalists: Steve Clifford, Mark Jackson and Mike Brown. And, as Amick outlined in his report, it also should answer the question of who’s truly running the Kings’ front office.