The last time the Sacramento Kings made the playoffs was in the 2005-2006 season. Multiple NBA teams have gone through multiple rebuilds since then, yet the Kings don’t have one playoff berth since that time. 

Much of this skid is the responsibility of Vivek Ranadivé, the Kings owner since 2013. We are thankful to him for keeping the Kings in Sacramento and helping to bring a state of the art venue to Downtown. However, the following missteps by Ranadivé cannot be ignored:

1. Fired coach Mike Malone, who was 11-13 at the time of his firing, but went 9-6 with star player Demarcus Cousins. The reason for this firing was not due to on court reasons. It was because Ranadivé wanted Malone to run a 4 on 5 defense and leave one player on the offensive end to cherrypick, and Malone stood his ground and wouldnt do it. Since then, Malone has went on to coach the Denver Nuggets, who have been playoff contenders in recent years. 

2. Hired Vlade Divac as General Manager, someone with very little to no previous front office experience.

3. Thought for some reason that Russell Westbrook and Rudy Gay would be interested in teaming up with Demarcus Cousins IN SACRAMENTO circa 2016. Cousins would proceed to be traded away in 2017.

4. The most recent of these missteps came with today’s trading away of Tyrese Haliburton for Domantas Sabonis. This move reeks of an owner putting pressure on the General Manager to win now, hence this trade.

It is said that a bad owner hires the wrong people or does not let those people do their work. Ranadivé is somehow adept at simultaneously doing both of these things, the worst possible combination. In addition, he has fostered a culture that promotes disorganization, lethargic effort, and backstabbing. Don’t believe me? Ask any player that has come through his organization. Some have even described Sacramento as “basketball hell.”

Us fans have been supportive of this team for a long, long time, but at some point enough is enough. The empty seats in the arena speaks volumes to our level of frustration with this franchise. How much longer do we have to be patient? Give me a break.

We’ll let up if things improve, but they better do so in a hurry. Sacramento deserves better.

The pressure is on, Vivek, and it’s just getting started. It’s time to sell the team.