The Sacramento Kings hired Luke Walton as their coach Monday, just days after the Los Angeles Lakers parted ways with him following three losing seasons. Neither the Kings nor Walton waited long following changes that came just after the end of the regular season. Sacramento fired coach Dave Joerger on Thursday following a 39-43 finish that was the best record for the franchise in 13 years, while Walton was dismissed in Los Angeles a day later when he failed to get the Lakers into the postseason in the first year with LeBron James. Kings general manager Vlade Divac met with Walton on Saturday and the two sides quickly came to the agreement that was formally announced Monday. The 39-year-old Walton was 98-148 in three years with Los Angeles in his first full-time head coaching job. He was 37-45 this season and was unable to make the playoffs even once. Walton also has experience as an assistant for Golden State, helping the Warriors win the 2015 title and then leading the team to a 39-4 record, including 24 straight wins to open the 2015-16 season, as interim coach while Steve Kerr was sidelined following complications from a pair of back surgeries. That performance helped him get the job with the Lakers but he was unable to duplicate that success with a roster with far less talent during his first two years and then again this year, even with James on board. Walton now takes over an up-and-coming team in Sacramento that features several talented young players acquired by Divac: guards De'Aaron Fox and Buddy Hield, forward Marvin Bagley III and center Willie Cauley-Stein. The Kings finished 39-43, nine games out of a playoff spot after being tied for the Western Conference's eighth seed heading into the final game before the All-Star break. Sacramento had its most wins since going 44-38 in 2005-06 during coach Rick Adelman's final season. That ended a run of eight straight playoff berths and Sacramento hasn't been back to the postseason since for the NBA's longest active drought. Joerger was the ninth coach since Adelman was fired in 2006 and none was able to post a winning record or earn a playoff berth. In fact, since moving to Sacramento before the 1985-86 season, the only winning seasons for the Kings came in Adelman's eight years at the helm, highlighted by a trip to the Western Conference final in 2002. Divac is now counting on Walton being the one who can get the team back to the level it reached under Adelman, when the Kings were a contender for several years and played an entertaining brand of basketball.<doc-sep>Kings general manager Vlade Divac has earned at least a little benefit of the doubt. That’s the one thing that I, a Sacramento diehard, am clinging to after the news that the team fired head coach Dave Joerger on Thursday. It’s not like the Kings fan base should hand Vlade a blank check, mind you, but not every decision by the franchise can be viewed through the same old Kangz-gonna-Kangz prism anymore. Think about some of the major moves during Divac’s tenure with the team: June 2015: Selected Willie Cauley-Stein with the sixth pick of the 2015 NBA draft. Selected Willie Cauley-Stein with the sixth pick of the 2015 NBA draft. July 2015: Traded Nik Stauskas, two first-round pick swaps, and an unprotected 2019 first-rounder to the Sixers for essentially nothing but cap space that was used to sign Rajon Rondo, Kosta Koufos, and Marco Belinelli. Traded Nik Stauskas, two first-round pick swaps, and an unprotected 2019 first-rounder to the Sixers for essentially nothing but cap space that was used to sign Rajon Rondo, Kosta Koufos, and Marco Belinelli. April 2016: Fired head coach George Karl. Fired head coach George Karl. May 2016: Hired Joerger. Hired Joerger. June 2016: Acquired Georgios Papagiannis with the 13th pick of the 2016 NBA draft after trading back from the eighth pick. Acquired Georgios Papagiannis with the 13th pick of the 2016 NBA draft after trading back from the eighth pick. February 2017: Traded DeMarcus Cousins (among others) to the Pelicans for Buddy Hield and a first-round pick that became the 10th overall selection in the upcoming draft. Traded DeMarcus Cousins (among others) to the Pelicans for Buddy Hield and a first-round pick that became the 10th overall selection in the upcoming draft. June 2017: Selected De’Aaron Fox with the fifth pick of the 2017 NBA draft. Selected De’Aaron Fox with the fifth pick of the 2017 NBA draft. June 2018: Selected Marvin Bagley III with the second pick of the 2018 NBA draft. Selected Marvin Bagley III with the second pick of the 2018 NBA draft. February 2019: Traded Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph to the Mavericks for Harrison Barnes. And finally, today: April 2019: Fired Joerger. Most of these decisions were seen as catastrophes at the time, but have yielded more good than bad. Cauley-Stein may not earn a second contract with the team, but not one player selected after him in the 2015 draft has made an All-Star team. Karl’s tenure was toxic, and it was time for a change when he was let go. Papagiannis was a bust, but the trade-back netted the team Bodgan Bogdanovic, a former EuroLeague MVP who is better than virtually any player the Kings could have gotten in the mid-to-late lottery in 2016. The Cousins trade has been nothing but a win: Hield played at a near-All-Star level this season, and Harry Giles (one of the players Sacramento selected after trading away the pick it received from the Pelicans for two first-rounders) looks like part of the team’s future frontcourt. Fox is a star in the making. And while passing on Luka Doncic still pains me, Bagley has exceeded expectations as a rookie and has sky-high potential. When you zoom out enough, it’s clear the franchise is still headed in the right direction. All of which is to say that firing Joerger doesn’t mean the sky is falling just yet. Sure, he was great this season: He led the team to a 39-43 record, its best season since 2005-06 (just typing that made me sad). He built a breakneck offense around Fox and let Sacramento’s young core—including Hield, Bagley, and Giles—develop. The team outperformed its preseason Vegas win total to a greater degree than any other team and blew past Divac’s own expected 29-53 record. For a little while there, the Kings were in playoff contention before a post-All-Star break collapse. But we have little idea what else was going on. For instance: Just how bad was Joerger’s relationship with the front office? This season there were reports of tension between the two parties, at times including players, and it’s worth noting that Joerger’s breakup with the Grizzlies was similarly messy. To be clear: I wouldn’t have fired Joerger, but it’s hard to gauge exactly how much coaching even matters in the NBA—just look at the list of past Coach of the Year winners and scratch your head. This fan base still has flashbacks to when the team inexplicably fired Mike Malone after a promising 11-13 start in 2014. That was peak Kangz gonna Kangz. It’s worth remembering now, as the franchise fires another coach after a promising performance, that Divac wasn’t with the team when Malone was let go. These firings aren’t two sides of the same coin; they need to be examined separately. The only way to view Vivek Ranadivé’s ownership of the team—which began in 2013—is by acknowledging a pre-Divac and post-Divac divide. Before Divac, sure, the Kings Kangz-ed about as hard as possible (I’d rather eat glass than go back to the Karl-D’Alessandro era). But since then, Sacramento has made counterintuitive moves—like trading Boogie, drafting Papagiannis, and taking Bagley over Doncic—to build their team of the future. The big difference is that in the Divac era these decisions have worked because the pieces have been complementary. When Divac traded Boogie, he promised that he’d step down if the team weren’t in a better position in two years. Here we are, a little over two years later, and the team is certainly in a better place. In fact, it’s the best position for the franchise in at least a decade. Not a high bar, sure, but not bad work, either. Divac got a four-year extension today, and he’s clearly comfortable being in the driver’s seat now. In addition to Joerger, assistant general manager Brandon Williams—who had previously feuded with the head coach—is out. So is media relations director Chris Clark, who’d been with the team since 1999. It’s a full house cleaning. Who will come after Joerger? Early reports leave us with a few names: Luke Walton, Monty Williams, and Ettore Messina. Perhaps in two more years we’ll look at one of these guys and realize that another one of Divac’s big moves worked out. Or perhaps we’ll be back in a similar mess. Upheaval can sometimes breed more upheaval. Divac may have given the team a bright future, but he hasn’t exactly proved he can create a stable one. Maybe I sound like the “this is fine” dog, but the house Vlade has built isn’t on fire—at least, not yet. Overall, Divac is redefining what Kangz gonna Kangz means: A franchise that once made bold and idiotic moves now makes bold and at least kinda decent ones. Kings fans no longer have to assume that Joerger’s firing will fall into the former category. No one knows what it means for the future of the team, but for the first time in a really long time, it doesn’t have to immediately be considered an indictment of the franchise.<doc-sep>
Stan Van Gundy, Amin Elhassan and Richard Jefferson are not surprised that the Kings are moving on from Dave Joerger because of their history of dysfunction. (1:45) Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac has fired coach Dave Joerger after the team's best season since 2005-06, it was announced Thursday. "After evaluating the season, I determined that we need to move in a different direction in order to take us to the next level," Divac said in a statement. "On behalf of the entire Kings organization, I want to thank Dave for his contributions to our team and I wish him all the best." Despite Joerger engineering an improbable 39-win season, Divac is using the muscle of his new contract extension through the 2022-23 season to consolidate power around him, league sources said. Divac fired assistant general manager Brandon Williams earlier Thursday morning, sources said, and planned to meet with players after firing Joerger. Divac said in a news conference later Thursday that he had been considering a coaching change for some time and that the team's poor finish after the All-Star break (9-16) sealed it. "This year was a good season, but I think we could do more, especially after All-Star break," Divac said. "After the All-Star break, I felt very confident we'd be in the race, and we were in the race," he added. "Unfortunately, we fell short." What makes Joerger's dismissal confusing to many inside and outside the Kings' world is simply this: He transformed Sacramento's style of play into one of the league's fastest, most exciting brands of basketball, and point guard De'Aaron Fox has developed into one of the NBA's bright young stars. Sacramento averaged 114.2 points per game this season, which ranked ninth in the league. It was an increase of 15.4 points after the Kings finished last in the NBA at 98.8 points per game during the 2017-18 season. Tension between management and Joerger regarding playing time for certain young players and relationship strains impacted Divac's decision, sources said. Still, most around the NBA believed the team's rapid improvement under Joerger and significant overperformance based on preseason expectations would have forced the organization to consider a contract extension. Joerger, who has a 98-148 record without a playoff appearance in his three seasons with the Kings, had one year remaining on his contract. Prior to joining the Kings, he coached the Memphis Grizzlies for three seasons. He has an overall NBA coaching record of 245-247. The Kings, in announcing Divac's new four-year deal, praised the GM for helping in the team's rebuild. "Vlade has been vital to what we are building here," owner Vivek Ranadive said in a statement. "Throughout his entire career, Vlade is someone who has always made those around him better, both on and off the court." Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.