Kings parting with GM Monte McNair, assistant coach

The news was announced just minutes after Sacramento was upset at home by the Mavericks, 120-106, in the West’s 9-10 play-in tournament game, and ousted from the postseason.

Following the defeat, interim head coach Doug Christie reflected on his uncertain future with the club, tweets James Ham of The Kings Beat.

“This is where I want to be, I think you all know that,” Christie said. “I need to finish what I started.”

According to Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (via Twitter), Christie revealed that he had not received any indication he would be returning as the Kings’ coach next season.

As ESPN’s Shams Charania notes, McNair’s tenure with the club included three consecutive seasons of 40 or more wins, and a .488 overall win percentage (195-205). Charania observes that McNair’s former assistant GM, Wes Wilcox, departed Sacramento to serve as the general manager at the University of Utah.

In 2022/23, their first season under eventual Coach of the Year Mike Brown, the Kings posted a 48-34 record and secured the Western Conference’s No. 3 seed, making the playoffs for the first time in 16 years. But the team has fallen on harder times of late, failing to advance beyond the play-in tournament across each of the past two seasons.

This year, Sacramento fired Brown after a 13-18 start. Next, All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox demanded a trade out of town, and was eventually dealt to San Antonio in a three-team blockbuster deal with Chicago. Under Christie, the Kings went 27-24 to finish the season.

McNair is not the only Sacramento mainstay who’s moving on this offseason. Per Mark Haynes of The Sacramento Observer (via Twitter), assistant coach Jim Moran is joining the college ranks, and will serve as an assistant under Florida State head coach Luke Loucks.