There was bound to be trouble in Sacramento sooner or later with so many volatile personalities on the team, and it appears as though that point has come much sooner than anyone may have expected. After the Sacramento Kings lost at home to the San Antonio Spurs 106-88, DeMarcus Cousins stated the following to reporters: Cousins says there are some internal issues going on with the Kings right now that have to be handled. — James Ham (@James_Ham) November 10, 2015 “We’ve got some issues in-house
Under the guidance of Sacramento Kings legend and current VP of basketball operations and GM Vlade Divac, the Kings have assembled the most talented roster they have had in nearly a decade. So why are so many expecting the worst out of Sacramento this season? It’s complicated. The long-term consequences for how Divac went about creating enough cap space to acquire the likes of Rajon Rondo, Kosta Koufos, Marco Belinelli, Caron Butler, Seth Curry, James Anderson, Quincy Acy and Duje Dukan
If Laker fans hope—actually, expect—a fast turnaround, last week’s draft that brought D’Angelo Russell and two more of the top 34 picks was a reminder how tricky the process is going to be. The announcement of Russell’s selection at No. 2 prompted cries of anguish from the half of Lakerdom that wanted Jahlil Okafor. The Los Angeles Times’ Bill Plaschke kept from passing out long enough to tweet, “wow… crazy… wow… unreal… you’ve got to be kidding.” No, they were serious. The Lakers
It would be fitting if the man who helped lead the Sacramento Kings during their most prosperous years could help guide them back after a decade of mediocre irrelevance. You may recognize Vlade Divac’s smooth European voice from your Waze navigation system, but most know Divac— aside from being traded for Kobe Bryant— for being the center of the turn-of-the-millenium Kings team that nearly reached the NBA Finals and turned Arco Arena into the loudest building in sports. With a new arena
Why is the trade deadline different from all other nights of the year? It’s not. The West just got tougher. In the East, where there’s no life-or-death importance attached to getting better, the top teams sat this one out while the bad teams—your Knicks and 76ers—dumped, shut down or otherwise disposed of their best players in order to tank more definitively. [Read more…]
All-Star Weekend didn’t start out too well for my son, Andrew. On Friday morning, he had an argument with his first serious girlfriend a day before his first serious Valentine’s Day. With that hanging over his head, he had to go to work, where his primary job is to kick mallrats out of the store. And it was the last work day before the All-Star Game and we still hadn’t heard from someone who had said that maybe, just maybe, he
Earlier on Friday, the already-controversial Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé was campaigning for an All-Star berth for his stars in Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins. Needless to say, many of the fans and most around the league in general were shocked and unhappy about the recent firing of head coach Michael Malone, given the job he had done early on (before going on a losing streak due to the prolonged absence of Cousins) and the identity the Kings appeared to be
At this time last year, the vibe surrounding the Sacramento Kings was overly positive. The Sacramento community had just found out that Vivek Ranadive was purchasing the team with intent to keep it in Sacramento, essentially saving the franchise from moving to Seattle. This all happened in the span of a couple of months, and when the fight to keep the team was finally won, basketball decisions had to be made. The ownership group, front office and coaching staff were assembled