Heat’s Bam Adebayo Fined $50K For Response To Official
Heat center Bam Adebayo has been fined $50K for “making inappropriate contact with and directing profane language toward a game official,” the NBA announced (via Twitter). The incident happened following Miami’s 106-104 loss to Minnesota Friday night.
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra was also critical of the officiating, believing that Adebayo got fouled by Minnesota’s Julius Randle on a last-second three-point attempt, according to Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Adebayo said he was “too busy shooting the ball” to determine if Randle fouled him, but he was upset about referee Kevin Cutler’s refusal to discuss the play.
“Nothing, nothing,” Adebayo told reporters when asked if Cutler offered an explanation. “And it wasn’t even about the last play. It was throughout the whole game. To me, like I said, I don’t really get too confrontational. I really don’t get into it with the refs because it’s their job and it’s our job too at the end of the day. We got dudes fighting for everything on the line. So to me, it’s like have the decency enough to look me in my eyes when I’m having a conversation.
“Obviously, we lost. I don’t understand why they think we can’t be emotional. We’re going to be emotional. Win or lose games, if we have a conversation and it gets heated, it’s not because I just want to go at you. It’s because [expletive] is happening in the game. Like I said, man, have the decency enough to look a man in his eye and not walk away. That to me is utterly disrespectful in a man’s game.”
Chiang points out that Adebayo has only been whistled for one technical foul all season and has just one ejection in his career. Adebayo indicated that the respect he shows toward officials made it especially frustrating when Cutler refused to respond.
“I’m pretty cool with all the referees,” Adebayo continued. “That’s the thing. I’m not confrontational, but I am emotional when I’m out there because we’re fighting to get wins. Everybody does it. I’ve seen dudes really say some crazy stuff to referees and they don’t take them out. So I had the decency enough to wait until after the game to have my conversation because it’s like, ‘I want to have a conversation with you.’ That’s what you’re supposed to do as a man, face to face. But when you’re walking away and stuff like that, that’s just truly disrespectful and I feel like stuff should happen when they do that. Because when we get emotional and we walk away, we get (technicals) and we get fined and I think that’s crazy.”
Chiang adds that the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report issued today confirms that the no-call was the correct decision, stating that Randle made “marginal contact.”
Disabled Player Exceptions For 2024/25 Expire On Monday
A series of disabled player exceptions granted to teams earlier in the 2024/25 season will expire on Monday if they go unused. The annual deadline to use a disabled player exception is March 10.
We go into more detail on who qualifies for disabled player exceptions and how exactly they work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, if a team has a player suffer a season-ending injury prior to January 15, the exception gives that team the opportunity to add an injury replacement by either signing a player to a one-year contract, trading for a player in the final year of his contract, or placing a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract.
Here are the teams whose DPEs will expire if they aren’t used on by the end of the day on Monday, per Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom:
- Charlotte Hornets: $6,512,625 (Grant Williams) (story)
- Orlando Magic: $5,500,000 (Moritz Wagner)
- Utah Jazz: $2,924,340 (Taylor Hendricks) (story)
- Indiana Pacers: $2,217,691 (Isaiah Jackson) (story)
- Philadelphia 76ers: $2,010,180 (Jared McCain)
- Denver Nuggets: $1,532,820 (DaRon Holmes) (story)
The Pacers were granted a second disabled player exception worth $1,118,846 for James Wiseman‘s season-ending injury, but forfeited it when they dealt Wiseman to Toronto at the trade deadline.
Since the trade deadline has passed and no players are currently on waivers, there’s essentially just one way left for those teams with disabled player exceptions to use them: signing a free agent. However, that seems unlikely, given that there are no free agents on the buyout market who would warrant a contract worth more than the veteran’s minimum.
In other words, these exceptions will, in all likelihood, expire on Monday without being used. Assuming that happens, no team will have used a disabled player exception this season.
Disabled player exceptions have never been used with much frequency, but the fact that mid-level and bi-annual exceptions could be used for the first time this season to acquire players via trade or waiver claim has further reduced their importance.
Southwest Notes: Fox, Rockets, Jackson, Jensen
De’Aaron Fox has been playing this season with a dislocated left pinky finger, according to Mike Monroe of The Athletic, who says that the Spurs guard is expected to undergo surgery sooner or later to address the injury. With San Antonio falling out of play-in contention, that procedure could even happen before the end of the season so that the recovery process doesn’t extend too far into the offseason, Monroe notes.
“Oh, obviously, for me and (general manager Brian Wright), we’ve talked about the surgery thing,” Fox said. “At some point, I’m going to have to get it, but we’ll see where we are before that comes.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday in Sacramento after a loss to his former team, Fox pointed to March 17 as a possible date for the procedure, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). The Spurs will be in Los Angeles at that time for a rescheduled game vs. the Lakers and Fox said he’ll have the injury evaluated by a specialist in L.A. during that trip.
“The surgery may or may not happen that day,” he said.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Veteran center Steven Adams has served as a backup to Rockets starter Alperen Sengun for most of the season, but the two big men shared the court for seven minutes against New Orleans on Thursday and Houston outscored the Pelicans 23-5 during that time, per Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). “It’s good because it’s something new,” Adams said after the win. “It’s just engaging. Also, a lot of my career has been spent that way as well, playing double-big lineup anyway. It’s just good, just figuring it out and I feel like we play with each other pretty well, just gravitate the defense. In a sort of way it’s a different look, so I think it’s a pretty useful tool going forward.”
- In a Rockets-centric mailbag for The Athletic, Kelly Iko takes a look at Houston’s cap situation going forward, explains why Cam Whitmore is out of the rotation, and considers what the team’s optimal starting lineup would look like. Even though Amen Thompson has thrived in the starting five, Iko thinks it might benefit the Rockets as a whole to move him back to the bench, with Jabari Smith reclaiming his starting spot.
- Santi Aldama returned to action on Friday for the Grizzlies following a two-game absence due to a right calf strain and Jaren Jackson Jr., who has missed two games with a left ankle sprain, might not be too far behind him. According to Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link), Jackson was on the floor for the team’s shootaround on Friday morning, dribbling and getting up shots. The team said on Tuesday that the big man is considered “week to week.”
- Although Mavericks assistant Alex Jenson has accepted the head coaching job at the University of Utah, he’ll finish out the season in Dallas before officially transitioning into that new position with the Utes, he tells NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link).
The Non-Blockbuster Deadline Deals Making An Impact
The NBA's 2025 trade deadline has the potential to be the most impactful in recent memory, primarily because of two trades: the Lakers' acquisition of Luka Doncic and the Warriors' deal for Jimmy Butler.
The Lakers are 9-2 since Doncic made his Los Angeles debut and have moved from fifth place in the Western Conference standings up to the No. 2 spot. Golden State has been just as hot, going 10-1 in games Butler has played over the past month and rising from 10th in the conference to sixth. Suddenly, two teams that looked like they'd be lucky to win a playoff series this spring are playing like legitimate contenders to come out of the West.
Outside of those two trades, there's at least one more you could absolutely call a blockbuster -- the three-team deal that sent De'Aaron Fox to the Spurs and Zach LaVine to the Kings may not have the same sort of short-term effect on the Western Conference playoff picture, but Fox's presence in San Antonio alongside Victor Wembanyama figures to be a major factor in future seasons.
I'd add one more deal to this list of pre-deadline "blockbusters" by including the four-team trade that saw Khris Middleton head from the Bucks to the Wizards, with Kyle Kuzma going in the other direction.
Classifying it as a blockbuster may be generous, given Middleton's recent injury history and Kuzma's down year, but Middleton is a three-time All-Star, Kuzma averaged over 21 points per game in each of the past two seasons, and both players have won championships as top-three scorers on their respective teams. A trade that includes both of them is a significant one.
Beyond those four deals, there were 16 others completed during the week leading up to the trade deadline. Many of those have rightly flown under the radar -- the Hornets and Thunder swapping 2029 and 2030 second-round picks, for instance, won't have any effect on the rest of the 2024/25 season.
But there are a handful of deals that have already made a real impact in the month since the February 6 trade deadline and have been somewhat overshadowed by the Doncic and Butler mega-deals. We want to shine a light on several of those trades today, highlighting the best and worst of them.
Paul George To Miss At Least Two More Games With Groin Injury
Sixers forward Paul George will miss at least two more games due to the left groin ailment that sidelined him on Thursday in Boston, as Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com relays. Head coach Nick Nurse updated reporters on George’s status after the team’s practice on Saturday.
The news means George will be out for Sunday’s home game vs. Utah and Monday’s road game in Atlanta. The earliest he could potentially return would be on Wednesday in Toronto, which will be a crucial game for lottery positioning — the Sixers and Raptors are currently separated by a half-game in the standings.
George, who was listed as out on Thursday due to left groin soreness, also missed Monday’s game with the same injury designation. He played nearly 30 minutes on Wednesday in Minnesota and scored just seven points on 3-of-11 shooting, though he contributed six assists and a pair of steals and was a +7 in a game the Sixers lost by 14 points.
With Joel Embiid having been ruled out for the season and the Sixers’ front office perhaps more focused on keeping its top-six protected first-round pick than claiming the Eastern Conference’s final play-in spot, it wouldn’t be a surprise if George continues to miss time during the season’s home stretch. He’s in the first season of a four-year, maximum-salary contract, so the organization will probably prioritize getting him fully healthy for next fall rather than getting the most out of him in the final weeks of what increasingly looks like a lost season.
Philadelphia’s other star, Tyrese Maxey, has been sidelined for the team’s past two games with what the team is calling a lower back sprain. Maxey did some individual work on Saturday, but appears likely to remain on the shelf for Sunday’s matchup with Utah, per Aaronson. His status beyond Sunday is still up in the air.
Central Notes: Allen, Stewart, Bucks, Antetokounmpo
The midseason arrival of De’Andre Hunter to the Cavaliers altered center Jarrett Allen‘s role, but he has no problem with taking a step back for the greater good, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. As Fedor observes, heading into Friday’s game against Charlotte, Allen wasn’t a part of recent closing lineups, with Hunter joining the other four starters.
“It’s not really difficult for me,” Allen said. “I trust Kenny [Atkinson] wholeheartedly. Sometimes I wish I was out there. Sometimes I understand why I’m not. At the end of the day, it’s not my job to decide. It’s my job to do the best I can whenever my number is called.”
That closing lineup changed a little in a close game with the Hornets on Friday, with the team in need of rim protection. Allen took over a closing role in place of Max Strus.
“They know they’ve got to earn it,” Atkinson said. “There’s earning it and then there’s matchups. We’ve had a discussion with the whole team. Whether it’s you’re in the rotation or not in the rotation, you might deserve to be in a rotation but you’re still not in the rotation because we’re so deep. You might finish the game, you might not. That’s just kind of how it is. That’s what it takes to get to that next level. That’s part of the sacrifice and chemistry thing we’ve got going on.”
Allen said he’s willing to do whatever it takes to help the team win and is drawing tremendous reviews from his teammates for his consistency, confidence and leadership.
We have more from the Central Division:
- Appearing on ESPN’s NBA Today (Twitter video link), Pistons center Jalen Duren complimented fellow big man Isaiah Stewart, arguing that his teammate deserves more recognition and should be on an All-Defensive team at the end of the season. Just one year after winning only 14 games, Detroit is in prime playoff position and is just two games back of the fourth-place Bucks. Over an impressive month-long stretch that has seen them win 10 of their past 12 games, the Pistons are allowing fewer points per possession than any other team, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic. Katz agrees with Duren’s sentiment that Stewart, averaging 1.4 blocks per game, should get an All-Defensive nod. Stewart is holding opponents a 46% shooting percentage on dunk and layup attempts, which is the best such number in the league in the last five years, Katz notes.
- The Bucks have demonstrated a willingness to build around the duo of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard and their deadline moves are paying off, according to Eric Nehm of The Athletic. “Hopefully, I think that it’s more about, ‘How do we make the top two guys their best selves?’” general manager Jon Horst said. “And, ‘How does everyone else play their role around them?’” The Bucks brought in Kyle Kuzma (15.2 PPG) and Kevin Porter Jr. (9.2 PPG), along with Jericho Sims (4.6 RPG) at the deadline.
- Antetokounmpo became the sixth-youngest player to reach 20,000 career points on Wednesday, Jamal Collier of ESPN observes. “I always look back at myself, and I don’t want to say I get emotional, but it’s a good feeling,” the Bucks star said. “I’m proud of the journey, but I have so much more to give.“
Atlantic Notes: Grimes, Celtics, Thomas, Martin
Quentin Grimes has been traded three times since February 2024, but he’s not letting that impact his play, as Jared Weiss of The Athletic details. As we wrote on Thursday, Grimes is looking like a keeper for the Sixers, having averaged 16.8 points per game in his first 12 appearances with the team.
“It’s tough. As soon as you get comfortable, you get traded,” Grimes said. “But you gotta keep a level head. You got to go out there and produce.”
While Grimes had productive moments in New York and Dallas, he’s getting a chance to have the ball in his hands far more than before, initiating offense as opposed to simply spotting up.
“He’s been able to still kind of find his way, even with the extra pressure, extra bodies,” head coach Nick Nurse said. “He’s doing a good job of just getting into his shots and getting to places that he wants to go and getting the shots off. Obviously, he’s on a bit of a hot streak.”
According to Weiss, Grimes was shocked to be traded from Dallas this season. He had been productive there, averaging 10.2 points while shooting 39.8% from three in 47 games (12 starts).
“It’s crazy what’s going on, so it’s a blessing in disguise that I got moved,” Grimes said. “But I feel for them for sure. We had a tight-knit group over there this season. We had a good chance of winning it all. But that’s the NBA and dudes get moved all the time.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- The Celtics blew out the Sixers on Thursday, winning by nearly 20 points despite being down five rotation players. None of Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Kristaps Porzingis or Sam Hauser were able to suit up, allowing for Boston’s bench players to step up. According to MassLive’s Brian Robb, Baylor Scheierman, Torrey Craig and Jordan Walsh were among the standouts. Scheierman scored a career-high 15 points, Craig accounted for 12 and Walsh had several good moments. Neemias Queta and two-way player Drew Peterson also both started for Boston. Queta recorded eight points, nine rebounds and four assists.
- Nets guard Cam Thomas is looking to finish the season strong after injuries disrupted a promising year, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. Thomas will hit restricted free agency after the season. “I mean, that’s just the name of it. I just want to finish strong just to finish strong,” Thomas said. “I’m not really worried about [my] contract year or anything. I mean, I think all of that will take care of itself.”
- In his last six games, Nets forward Tyrese Martin is averaging 12.0 points per contest, including a 23-point outburst against Detroit on March 1 and a 17-point outing in a close loss to Golden State on Thursday. As the New York Post’s Bridget Reilly writes, Martin is becoming an indispensable bench piece for Brooklyn. “Yeah, consistency. He’s a true pro. I play him off the ball, he plays well. I play him at point guard, he does his best and he’s getting better, like [Thursday],” coach Jordi Fernández said. “Defensively, he’s on point. He knows coverages, he knows everything. He shows up and works every day with a good attitude and he’s a great teammate. That’s what we want from everybody, but it’s not that easy to do it. He’s doing it consistently and that’s why he deserves all these good things that are coming to him, that he’s doing, that are coming his way.” Martin was recently converted from a two-way contract to a standard deal and has a team option for next season.
Southeast Notes: Magic, Johnson, Hawks Injuries, Snyder, Adebayo
Almost nothing is going according to plan for the Magic this season, The Athletic’s Josh Robbins writes. Orlando’s loss to the Bulls on Thursday was the fifth loss in a row for the team, which has been left searching for answers.
As recently as last season, it seemed like the Magic was following a trajectory similar to that of the Thunder or Rockets. All three teams added to their cores with the top-three picks in the 2022 draft, and the tandem of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner led the Magic to the fifth seed in the East last season, where they were able to push the Cavaliers to seven games.
But now, the Thunder are the top team in the West with Houston firmly in the playoff picture. As Robbins writes, a season with promise is in danger of falling apart as the Magic sit in ninth place this season and will have to win at least one play-in game (and possibly two) to earn a first-round date with the Cavs or Celtics.
“It’s a different year,” Banchero said. “It’s almost the end of this season, so we’re a different team. Teams, I think, are seeing what our weaknesses are and they’re attacking it, and we’ve had trouble adjusting.”
Injuries and three-point shooting are the biggest reasons for the tougher year, Robbins writes. Defensive ace Jalen Suggs is out for the season while Banchero and Wagner both had long-term absences in the first half. That trio has only shared the court for 97 total minutes. With Suggs out for the foreseeable future, the Magic will need to figure out how to get into a groove without him. They’re 9-20 this season when the former Gonzaga standout isn’t available.
Additionally, the Magic have missed the production they received from Moritz Wagner off the bench. He’s not only their statistically best three-point shooter, but he also gives them optionality at center, which the team is sorely missing. The Magic rank last in the league in three-point percentage.
“The message at the end was we’ve got to fight our way out of this funk,” coach Jamahl Mosley said. “That’s exactly what it is. It’s a funk, and we’ve got to fight our way out of it.”
We have more from the Southeast Division:
- Rising Hawks forward Jalen Johnson, who is out for the season due to a torn labrum, is confident he’ll be ready for the start of the ’25/26 season, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Lauren L. Williams. “When you’re in the league, you’re constantly learning about your body, how things may need to tweak here and there,” Johnson said. “So, I’m still learning things, learning new things. I got a great staff around me who provides great insight on things like that. So I just been trying to take knowledge from a lot of people, other athletes and stuff like that as far as you know, maybe what they do, I mean their preparation. But I’m confident in what I do, and I know I’ll get back to 100%.”
- Hawks guard Vit Krejci, out since Feb. 10 due to a lumbar fracture, was upgraded to questionable for the team’s Saturday game against the Pacers, Brad Rowland of Locked On Hawks tweets. Krejci is averaging 6.9 points per game while shooting 38.4% from three in 39 games (15 starts) this season. Meanwhile, impressive trade deadline acquisitions Caris LeVert (knee inflammation) and Terance Mann (quad contusion) are in danger of missing a game for the first time since arriving in Atlanta. Both players are questionable for Saturday’s contest.
- Hawks head coach Quin Snyder returned to the bench on Thursday against the Pacers after missing one game due to illness, ESPN reports. Snyder missed that game due to the flu and assistant Igor Kokoskov took his place. “His level of experience makes you very comfortable in those situations,” Snyder said of Kokoskov.
- Bam Adebayo is working his way up the Heat’s all-time rankings, recently surpassing Rony Seikaly for the most double-doubles in franchise history. Impressively, Adebayo is already fourth in all-time scoring for the Heat and has a shot to move into second place as soon as next season. He’s already No. 2 among the Heat’s all-time leading rebounders and, according to the Miami Herald’s Anthony Chiang, isn’t shy to let current leader Udonis Haslem know he’s coming for his record. “He’s been texting me every spot,” Haslem said. “Every spot he comes up the chain, he texts me.”
Poll: Who Is The NBA’s 2024/25 MVP?
Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic concluded Friday’s overtime game against the Suns with the league’s first-ever 30/20/20 game, having totaled 31 points, 21 rebounds and 22 assists.
In some ways, the three-time MVP’s history-making stat line is almost unsurprising. Jokic continues to be on the forefront of award discussions while putting up video-game level stat lines every night.
The 30-year-old big man is averaging career highs of 28.9 points and 10.6 assists per game, while his 12.9 rebounds per game would be the second-best mark of his career. He’s doing this on an incredibly efficient .577/.439/.818 shooting split. His 43.9% three-point percentage and 4.4 attempts from deep per game are also both career highs.
And while Jokic’s stats might be unsurprising after three MVPs and six All-NBA appearances, it does not mean they should go overlooked. This kind of production is what fans read about in history books and resembles something of an old Wilt Chamberlain stat line.
Being an MVP isn’t all about individual statistics, however. Being the league’s most valuable player means leading a winning situation and making one’s teammates better. Jokic fulfills this criteria, having helped the Nuggets overcome a relatively shaky start to the season. Denver won nine straight from late January to late February and has emerged victorious in 14 of its last 17 games.
Christian Braun is having a season worthy of the Most Improved Player award and Russell Westbrook is proving to be a nice fit, along with other contributions up and down the lineup from the Nuggets’ starters and role players. Jokic has good players around him, but there’s no doubt he’s helping set them up for success.
Despite Jokic’s historic achievements, he’s still trailing Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in NBA.com’s most recent MVP ladder. Entering Friday, Gilgeous-Alexander appeared to be the runaway favorite for the award.
Gilgeous-Alexander, by the way, is absolutely deserving of the praise. He’s averaging a league-leading and career-high 32.8 points along with 5.1 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game. His 1.8 steals per night are second to only Dyson Daniels and he has posted an impressive .526/.378/.898 shooting line.
As we wrote Thursday, Gilgeous-Alexander’s efficiency is off the charts. His true-shooting and usage percentages are career highs, and he ranks first in the league among guards in the former category.
The Canadian superstar finished second in MVP voting last year and may very well come away with the award this year. He has become the NBA’s surest bet to score 50 points on a given night, having done so four times in the last seven weeks after having previously never accomplished the feat in his career.
Like Jokic, Gilgeous-Alexander accomplishes the two-pronged test of winning games and helping his teammates. The Thunder own the league’s second-best record at 52-11, sitting atop the Western Conference. Oklahoma City has only dropped two games since the start of February, winning 15 of its previous 17.
What’s more, the Thunder are doing this in the face of multiple injuries to key players. Marquee free agent addition Isaiah Hartenstein missed over 20 games due to injury this season while star second-year center Chet Holmgren has been limited to just 18 appearances. Lockdown defender Alex Caruso, acquired via trade, has also missed over 20 games.
There’s no doubt multiple Thunder players like Jalen Williams, Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins, to name a few, deserve individual praise. But Gilgeous-Alexander’s presence and elite offensive production are certainly helping bring out the best in those players as well.
Beyond the two hottest names in Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander, it’s easy to forget other players are worthy of being thrown into the conversation as well. Giannis Antetokounmpo‘s 30.8 points and 12.1 rebounds per game should not be overlooked. Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns and Evan Mobley are also putting up tremendous numbers on contending teams. But all signs point to Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander being the top two in voting.
As NBA.com’s Shaun Powell writes, the Nuggets and Thunder play each other for the final two times this regular season on Sunday afternoon and Monday evening in back-to-back games. The results of those two contests could help sway voters in one direction or another. Premier matchups between the league’s best tend to go the most-noticed among fans, so it will be interesting to see if Jokic continues to close the perceived gap in the race. For what it’s worth, Basketball Reference’s 2024/25 NBA MVP tracker gives Jokic a 65.1% chance to win the award.
Regardless of what happens, it will be interesting to see if the clash between Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander ends up as close as Jokic’s first MVP win over Joel Embiid in ’21/22, the tightest race in recent memory. Both Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander are worthy of the honor and are putting up generational-type seasons.
That leads us to today’s question: Who should win the ’24/25 MVP award? Head to the comments to share your pick between Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander or to let us know if you believe another player should come away with the award.
Who Should Be The 2024/25 MVP?
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Nikola Jokic 65% (1,122)
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 28% (488)
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Other (Leave a comment) 7% (114)
Total votes: 1,724
Kings Rumors: Sabonis, Fox, Ownership, Ranadives, Christie
After trading De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio last month, the Kings no longer have to worry about whether or not the star guard is confident in the direction of the franchise, but Fox wasn’t the only player in Sacramento with those concerns, according to Sam Amick and Anthony Slater of The Athletic.
[RELATED: De’Aaron Fox Talks Kings Exit, Loyalty To Mike Brown, More]
League sources tell The Athletic that Kings center Domantas Sabonis is expected to “seek clarity” this offseason about the team’s plans going forward.
Sabonis still has three years and $140MM left on his current contract after this season and won’t become extension-eligible until the 2026 offseason, so the Kings likely won’t have to make a decision about his future this year, like they did with Fox. However, like Fox, Sabonis and other members of the team’s core have questions about whose voices are loudest when it comes to key personnel decisions and whose counsel matters most to team owner Vivek Ranadive.
As Amick and Slater explain, Ranadive has frequently leaned on advisors outside of the standard front office hierarchy for advice on major team decisions. Former head coach Alvin Gentry is one such advisor, while John Calipari has also served as a sounding board. Veteran executives like chief operating officer Matina Kolokotronis and president of business operations John Rhinehart have had significant influence as well.
“What is the vision here?” a league source close to one core Kings player said. “It feels like it could be headed toward chaos.”
Here’s more on the Kings from Amick and Slater:
- While Ranadive’s son Aneel Ranadive was heavily involved earlier in the earlier days of Vivek’s ownership, his daughter Anjali Ranadive is believed to have had more say in recent years, leading to speculation about whether she may be the “heir apparent” as the team’s governor. Anjali’s input was one reason why the Kings hesitated to sign head coach Mike Brown to a contract extension last offseason, team and league sources tell The Athletic.
- Anjali Ranadive no longer has a formal basketball operations role in the organization after stepping down as the Stockton Kings’ general manager in January 2024, but she’s still believed to have influence throughout the organization, per Amick and Slater. She and former NBA player Jeremy Lamb “became a more visible part of the Kings’ decision-making tree early this season” after their relationship went public, though Lamb no longer seems as involved in organizational decisions as he was a few months ago, according to The Athletic’s duo.
- It’s not yet clear whether Doug Christie, who was 19-11 in his first 30 games as Sacramento’s coach entering Friday, will have his interim tag removed and become the club’s permanent head coach. Team sources tell The Athletic that if the Kings continue to win at this rate, Christie would have a strong chance to land the permanent job. If the Kings go in a different direction, they’d be hiring their 14th head coach since Rick Adelman‘s exit in 2006.
- Amick and Slater also dig in a little to the circumstances surrounding Fox’s departure from Sacramento, suggesting that the longtime Kings guard was worried about spending his prime years with a franchise that would be mired in “mediocrity and instability.”