When the Sacramento Kings hired Alvin Gentry as their interim head coach on November 21, they had one of the most experienced coaches in the National Basketball Association. At 67 years of age, Gentry brought 17 seasons of NBA head coaching experience with the Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons, Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns, and New Orleans Pelicans to northern California.
However in sport, experience does not mean everything. The Kings struggled mightily this season with Luke Walton as their head coach (record of six wins and 11 losses), and were not any better with Gentry in charge (24 wins and 41 losses). As a result on Monday, the Kings organization announced they have parted ways with Gentry according to ESPN.
The Kings were one of two California-based teams in the NBA on Monday to announce that they had fired their head coach. The other was the Los Angeles Lakers, who parted ways with Frank Vogel.
The difference however between the Lakers and Kings was the fact the Lakers completely underachieved in 2021-22, while there were generally not that many expectations for Sacramento. Now the Kings have decisions to make regarding the future of their organization. They have some genuine building blocks, led by point guard De’Aaron Fox, and underrated power forward Domantas Sabonis, who was traded from the Indiana Pacers at the trade deadline.
Gentry had time to try and get this team to gel, but at the end of the day failed to do so. Remember, the San Antonio Spurs made the NBA Play-In tournament with a horrendous record of 34 wins and 48 losses, so the Kings at 30 wins and 52 losses, were not that far off from playing meaningful basketball this week.
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