There has not been a winning season for the Kings in 14 years, including the last five under DivacNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
Vlade Divac less than 24 hours after stepping down as Kings VP/Basketball Operations & GM "owned every decision he made that ultimately led to his downfall," including "drafting the oft-injured" F Marvin Bagley III instead of now-Mavericks G Luka Doncic in '18, according to Marcos Breton of the SACRAMENTO BEE. The Kings "didn’t post a winning season under Divac and haven’t in 14 seasons -- the longest stretch of futility in the NBA." Kings Owner & Chair Vivek Ranadive on Friday "told Divac he was passing the management authority" to former Pistons GM Joe Dumars. Divac: “I didn’t expect it but then I wasn’t surprised either. We didn’t accomplish what we expected this season. That’s the bottom line." Divac added that his "immediate plan is to stay in Sacramento." He "thinks and hopes he will always have a relationship with the franchise." But for now, Divac is the "latest basketball operations casualty in the seven seasons that Ranadive has run the team" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 8/16).
HOW IT UNFOLDED: Sources said that Divac on Friday morning had a "phone conversation" with Ranadive "about the future of the front office, and a major shift to their agreed-upon structure was proposed: What if, Ranadive told Divac ... Dumars assumed a larger role in which he would have the final say on the roster and the two of them would work side by side?" Sources said that Divac had "zero interest." THE ATHLETIC's Amick & Jones wrote the "notion of giving up personnel power, in Divac’s eyes, was a nonstarter." But Ranadive was "intent on making this move." Dumars’ "influence within the organization had increased a great deal in recent months." Most recently, he "attended the early Kings games in Orlando with Ranadive, and rival executives who saw this new dynamic emerging began to wonder what it might mean" (THEATHLETIC.com, 8/15).
TIME TO GO: In Sacramento, Greg Wissinger wrote while hiring Divac as GM "was not wise," it is "hard to argue that it wasn’t shrewd." His status as a Kings legend "earned him leeway with fans that any other GM wouldn’t have enjoyed." He also is "affable and charming, funny and self-deprecating." But he "made a lot of mistakes while at the helm of the Kings, none as glaring as passing" on Doncic in favor of Bagley. Wissinger: "Still, I never doubted that Divac wanted what was best for the Kings and for Kings fans" (SACRAMENTO BEE, 8/16).
