The Sacramento Kings make a big change.
A 6-11 start to the season and the Sacramento Kings‘ brass had seen enough. Luke Walton was dismissed as the team’s head coach and Alvin Gentry was named the interim coach shortly after. The change isn’t exactly surprising, but the timing of it is quite interesting.
Not sure what the Kings expected to change by giving Walton 17 games. In fact, it’s honestly a perfect Kings’ move. If you felt this way about Walton, why not move on during the offseason? Unless, of course, there’s more that’s happening inside that locker room that we simply aren’t aware of.
But that’s another topic for another day.
One area of intrigue that this move will spark is whether or not this head-coaching change will open the opportunity for bigger moves later this season – possibly at the NBA Trade Deadline. Obviously, the Kings are trying to salvage this season.
That’s ultimately the case for why to make a head-coaching change this early in the season. But if Gentry can’t get this team back on track and they fall out of the playoff race, you’d have to wonder whether the team decides to make a few big moves at the trade deadline.
Additionally, the team really has to figure out their guard position. Sacramento has a crowded back in De’Aaron Fox, Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Davion Mitchell. Sacramento will likely have to move on from one of them and while the easy decision is to eject on Hield, Fox’s shooting struggles this season are likely giving the Kings another thing to think about.
Fox has struggled mightily with his offensive efficiency to start the season and is only shooting 42 percent from the field and 24 percent from 3-point range. His early-season struggles are certainly concerning but at the same time, it would be outrageous for the team to even think about trading him at this point.
But that doesn’t mean that his recent struggles haven’t given the Kings some pause about whether or not he can be the primary piece that the team elects to build around.
The Kings have made one bold move already this season. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s another one, or possibly more, coming later this season.