The Sacramento Kings have fired head coach Luke Walton after the team got off to a 6-11 start. Walton was originally hired by the Kings in April of 2019 to take over for Dave Joerger. During his time with the Kings, Walton amassed a record of 68-93, good for a .422 win percentage. While this normally wouldn’t be anything to write home about, it actually makes him the winningest Sacramento head coach since Rick Adelman who was in charge of the team from 1998-2006.
Walton previously spent time coaching the Lakers from 2016-2019, and was an assistant coach with the Warriors from 2014-2016. During the 2015-16 season, Walton was named interim head coach for Golden State while Steve Kerr rehabbed his ailing back. From opening night to January 22nd 2016 Walton’s Warriors went 39-4, good for the 2nd best start to an NBA season in league history. The run also included a 24-0 start the year which won Walton the NBA coach of the month award for October and November.
Recently the Kings dropped 7 of their last 8 games, necessitating a change from GM Monte McNair. Assistant coach Alvin Gentry will be promoted to interim head coach in the meantime taking over his 6th NBA team in his career. The Kings front office will reportedly give Gentry an extended look for the remainder of the season before deciding whether to remove the interim title or seek an outside candidate for the role.
The Kings have the longest active playoff drought in the NBA having missed the playoffs for the previous 15 years. During that time span they’ve churned through 10 different head coaches.
Sacramento is next in action against the 76ers on Monday at 10pm ET.