Fox and Sabonis are ready to embrace whoever the Kings bring in.
Wasting no time, the Sacramento Kings are scouring the realm of coaches to replace interim head coach Alvin Gentry, who they decided not to bring back on Monday.
Looking to the faces of the franchise in the De’Aaron Fox and “The Ox,” Domantas Sabonis, the two have both staked their claim in joining in the search for who will steer the helm of the ship next.
“I’m not thinking too much into the head coaching thing,” Fox said. “We let the front office do what they do, I have trust in them. If they ask me, I’ll give my two cents, but just someone that’s going to instill discipline and change the culture. Obviously we talked about that before.”
If they ask me doesn’t quite sound like Swipa will be in the weeds with Sacramento’s front office during this offseason. A stark difference between being kept in the loop of who will hold the clipboard and conducting the interviews, but the lack luster desire in a pillar of the roster feels like De’Aaron’s personality.
Domas, however, has expressed that he wants to be an active participant in finding Gentry’s replacement.
“I would like to be part of it and talk to everyone, give them my input: what I think, what I’ve seen; what could work, what could help.”
Given that Sabonis did not spend as much time with Gentry as Fox, his aptitude for reading the team as is stands speaks to the difference in leadership this team has. Fox is comfortable being hands off, while Sabonis feels like a more vocal liaison.
With that said, Fox had kind words to say about Gentry and his time in Sacramento.
“He did a good job of keeping everyone together, trying to be able to finish out this season strong. He’s a true professional, I think everyone who’s ever come across him will tell you that but it’s a difficult thing to go through. I hadn’t been through a coach firing in the middle of the season before and he handled it with utmost professionalism and that’s why he’s been in the league for so long — longer than I’ve been alive he’s been in this league — and you definitely see why.”
This season’s spill was never Gentry’s to clean up, and that notion is clearly reverberated around the locker room.