The Sacramento Kings' 2025-2026 season has been one for the history books. While it would be both easy and accurate to assign blame to their rookie head coach, this season's failures are not solely Doug Christie's fault. Ownership and the former front office also share the blame.
Without question, this has been one of the worst seasons of basketball played by any team in the history of the NBA. The Kings have fallen to the bottom of the league in virtually every measurable statistic. And the Playoffs have been out of reach since at least the trade deadline.
When it comes to assigning blame for failures like this, the usual lightning rod is the head coach. That was certainly the case for former Kings' head coach Mike Brown, who was fired for not making a purse out of that pig's ear, which was the Kings' roster. He took the blame for other people's mistakes.
Honestly, it would be incredibly easy to blame the current head coach, Doug Christie. His ability to properly lead this team through the rebuild process has been questioned multiple times. That being said, the blame for such an abysmal performance by this franchise is not squarely on his shoulders.
There's plenty of blame to go around in Sacramento
Former Kings' general manager Monte McNair served in that role for five years and made moves that helped the team return to the Playoffs in 2023. He also played a huge part in building the grossly imbalanced, guard-heavy roster that current GM Scott Perry will spend years sorting out.
Another part of the equation is co-owner Vivek Ranadive. He has a reputation for micro-managing his team as well as installing friends and family in roles they are not qualified for. It has also been suggested that he stood in the way of a full rebuild process and pushed for Brown's firing.
Oddly enough, the one group who shouldn't be blamed is the players. There are several great members on the team, particularly among the young talents. Many of the veterans just don't fit together, but they didn't assemble this roster. They've just tried to make the best of it.
What's encouraging is that Perry has already had some success rebuilding the team, Christie is settling into his role, and Ranadive seems to be staying out of the situation. How long they can keep this momentum going without something catastrophic happening remains to be seen.