Immediately after losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the NBA Play-In Tournament (even before post-game pressers), the Sacramento Kings let go of their general manager of the last five years by mutually parting ways with Monte McNair.
This decision was by no means surprising. The Kings entered the 2024-25 NBA season with hopes of winning a playoff series, and instead, they won't even qualify for the postseason for the second straight year. Of course, changes needed to be made. What was shocking was what they did after letting go of McNair.
Kings hire new GM right after firing Monte McNair
General managers are important because they are often the head of the branch of your team that makes personnel decisions. They are the ones who pick the players on the team, while coaches are the ones who decide how the players will be used.
You'd think that the selection process for finding a general manager would be a long, well-thought endeavor, especially when you are a team like the Kings that is in dire need of a transformative offseason.
However, not even 24 hours after firing McNair, the Kings named his replacement, longtime NBA executive Scott Perry.
Perry has a decorated resume, even spending a brief amount of time with the Kings before serving as the general manager of the New York Knicks from 2017 to 2023. He also spent time with the Detroit Pistons, Seattle SuperSonics, and Orlando Magic. In total, he's been in the NBA since 2000.
That isn't the issue. The issue is that the Kings didn't do their due diligence and make sure that Perry truly was the best man for the job.
I'm sure it's just a coincidence that two of the worst organizations in the league just hired lead executives they were familiar with moments after firing their old GMs with no formal search process whatsoever.
— Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA) April 17, 2025
Regardless of what the result ends up being, this is terrible process from the Kings organization. A smart team wouldn't just hire someone based on a previous relationship. They would interview multiple candidates to see who had the best vision for their team moving forward.
It's no coincidence that another organization that has struggled to maintain success also just did the same thing. Earlier this week, the New Orleans Pelicans let go of David Griffin and quickly replaced him with Joe Dumars (who first hired Perry while with the Pistons in 2000).
I hope I'm wrong, but this brash decision seems like further evidence that the Kings are one of the worst organizations in the NBA.