The Sacramento Kings are moving swiftly to rebuild their front office after losing their top two basketball executives. According to a league source who spoke with The Sacramento Bee, the team is close to finalizing an agreement to hire veteran NBA executive as their new general manager. Top veteran, 61, will take over for Monte McNair, who is leaving after both sides agreed to part ways following Sacramento’s season-ending loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the play-in tournament.
McNair’s exit comes on the heels of assistant GM Wes Wilcox’s departure, as he recently accepted the general manager role at the University of Utah for their men’s basketball program. Perry, who briefly worked with the Kings in 2017 before becoming the GM of the New York Knicks, has a previous connection with team owner Vivek Ranadive. Over the years, Perry has held front office positions with the Detroit Pistons, Seattle SuperSonics, and Orlando Magic.
One of Perry’s first tasks as GM will be deciding the future of interim head coach Doug Christie. After Mike Brown was dismissed on Dec. 27, Christie led the Kings to a 27-24 record over 51 games. The team finished the season 40-42, landing them ninth in the Western Conference—far from their No. 3 seed finish in 2022-23.
Christie, a former Kings player from 2000 to 2005, expressed his desire to remain head coach after the team’s season-ending 120-106 loss to Dallas. “This is where I want to be,” Christie said. “I think you guys know that. I need to finish what I started, and that’s the only reason I even stepped onto the sideline from where I was at initially.”
The roster Perry will take over includes key players such as Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis, DeMar DeRozan, Malik Monk, Keegan Murray, and Keon Ellis.