Dave Joerger

Team, Sacramento Kings

Vlade Divac fired Dave Joerger in a face-to-face meeting on Thursday according to Adrian Wojnarowski.

This has been slow roasting for a while and now we'll see who the Kings put up as a replacement, with Luke Walton reportedly on the radar and the frontrunner according to Sam Amick. Ettore Messina is a candidate according to Zach Lowe and Monty Williams joins the list according to Amick. Regardless, Joerger did a good job this season and it's a risky move by the Kings, who aren't exactly known for their choices in this department.

Dave Joerger

Team, Sacramento Kings

The Kings announced that they’ve extended GM Vlade Divac’s contract through 2022-23, Marc Stein reported that they have interest in Luke Walton should he become available, our own Aaron Bruski reports along with Dave Joerger that he’s on the ropes and Sam Amick reported that assistant GM Brandon Williams will not return next season.

Things are moving pretty fast in Kings land. Vlade’s move to consolidate power is underway and getting rid of Williams is a good first step, as he was unpopular in the building and made moves to undermine Joerger throughout the season. Joerger didn’t do himself any favors with the way he handled playing time, though the bigger issues came in the two prior seasons and after the drama between sides there is an air of house-cleaning right now. Joerger had a nice coaching season for the most part and is one of the better young coaches in the game, personality quirks aside, and the Kings are playing with fire here upsetting a core that blasted away expectations. As a fun aside, expect plenty of Mark Jackson/Steve Kerr comparisons to come out of Sacramento in the coming days.

Source: Sam Amick of The Athletic