Almost immediately after falling to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA Play-In Tournament, the Sacramento Kings and Monte McNair parted ways.This marked the end of McNair's half-decade run as the Kings' general manager and president of basketball operations.
But it sounds like, based on some recent reporting, that McNair won't be out of the front office game for all that long.
McNair is in the running for the Atlanta Hawks general manager job
Unlike the Kings, who immediately filled their general manager vacancy by hiring Scott Perry, the Atlanta Hawks have taken their time with their search.
On Friday, NBA Insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer reported that McNair, along with the recently dismissed Calvin Booth, would be interviewing for the Hawks general manager job. This comes on the heels of the news that Elton Brand (the current general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers) was withdrawing himself from consideration for the job.
Now, McNair is only a candidate for the job, and given how things ended in Sacramento for him, he isn't a super highly-coveted one at that. However, if McNair does land this gig, it would be a clear upgrade over the situation he's leaving in Sacramento.
The Hawks, like the Kings, couldn't make it out of the Play-In Tournament for the second straight year. But unlike the Kings, they have a burgeoning young core. Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, and Onyeka Okongwu are all excellent defenders with a ton of length, athleticism, and room to grow.
The Kings have Keegan Murray, Keon Ellis, and Devin Carter. They are all good/promising defenders, but Ellis and Carter don't have the size that Atlanta's guys have, and none of those players have as much offensive upside as Johnson (who was averaging nearly 19 PPG before a devastating shoulder injury ended his season prematurely).
On top of that, the Hawks are in the less formidable Eastern Conference, which makes it easier for a mid-sized market like them to ascend into prominence.
The funniest part about the potential of McNair getting the Hawks' job is that he would likely be getting the Kings' first round pick in this upcoming draft – a pick the Hawks acquired thanks to the Kevin Huerter trade that McNair himself made three years ago.