Former executives with the New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets are reportedly early favorites to be the next general manager of the Sacramento Kings.
Three seasons ago, it looked like the Kings had finally turned a crucial corner when they ended a 16-year streak without reaching the playoffs. They won 48 games — their best win total since the 2000s — and looked like a perennial playoff team for years to come. Especially since they were built around a pair of young stars, De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis.
However, things have fallen apart since. Their win totals have declined over the last two years, and they were unable to get past the NBA Play-In Tournament. It cost head coach Mike Brown his job late last year. It led to Fox being traded, and on Wednesday night, GM Monte McNair was sent packing after the team’s season came to an end in a loss to the Mavericks
Now the organization must find a new top executive, and it seems a pair of GMs dismissed by the Knicks and Nuggets over the last couple of years are at the top of the Kings’ candidate list.
Sacramento Kings are looking at Scott Perry and Calvin Booth for general manager job
On Wednesday night, following McNair’s firing, The Athletic NBA insider Sam Amick and Anthony Slater reported “League sources say Scott Perry, who was the Kings’ vice president of basketball operations for three months in 2017 before being hired away as the New York Knicks’ general manager, is expected to receive strong consideration for the job and is considered a frontrunner.”
New York let Perry walk in 2023 after leading the team to a pair of playoff appearances in his three seasons in the role. However, President Leon Rose no longer wanted a middleman and preferred a more hands-on role. However, Perry is not the only strong candidate for the Sacramento job.
“Former Denver Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth is also expected to be given consideration,” Amick and Slater revealed. “Booth, who was fired by the Nuggets recently along with coach Michael Malone, previously interviewed with the Kings before they hired McNair in the summer of 2020.”
Booth was part of shocking firings last week by Denver just days before the start of the playoffs. He helped lead the franchise to its first NBA title three seasons ago. However, the dysfunction between him and Malone played a key role in his ouster.
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