All week, Sacramento was captivated by the firing of Kings coach Paul Westphal and the rabid speculation over whether Keith Smart was the right replacement to snap the purple lads into shape.

Call it angst over deck chairs on the USS Maloof.

The bigger picture of the Kings transcends any coach, team executive or player.

The issue that's been lurking in the weeds for a long time – the long-term viability of the team's owners – is at the root of every Kings malady today.

Every discussion – from an inability to sign big free agents, to luring name coaches and assembling a potent lineup – leads back to ownership in some way.

NBA owners such as the Maloofs do not open their books to the public, so their finances cannot be known for certain. But we know the Kings have had one of the lowest payrolls in the NBA for years.

They have hired coaches – Eric Musselman, Reggie Theus, Kenny Natt and Paul Westphal – who are long shots to ever be head coaches in the NBA again.

The Maloofs have lost control of the Palms Casino in Las Vegas and sold their family beer distributorship, once the bedrock of their family fortune.

The Kings owe the city of Sacramento nearly $70 million. We know the Maloffs have borrowed from the NBA, perhaps heavily.

In the past, when the Kings quarreled with regional leaders over failed plans to build an arena, talk surrounding the Kings owners got personal.

But people have moved on, the Maloofs are back in their courtside seats, it's not personal anymore.

When we speculate whether the Maloofs have the financial resources to field a winning team again – and people in Sacramento do so every day – the context is strictly business.

It's not unfair to wonder if the Maloofs will be the owners of the Kings two years from now, though everyone knows they don't want to sell the Kings.

For team owner and parking attendant alike, what is desired in life and what is possible are often at odds.

Last year, the Maloofs seemed poised to move the team to Anaheim in a deal anchored by a $75 million loan that would have been paid to them. In Anaheim, the Kings would have been secondary tenants to the Anaheim Ducks of the National Hockey League – and the Maloofs in a secondary role to Ducks owner Henry Samueli.

That didn't paint a picture of financial strength.

We also know that in ongoing arena discussions with Sacramento, it's the NBA – and not the Kings – doing the talking.

All of this takes on greater significance as the city seems poised to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to a downtown arena built to house the Kings as anchor tenants.

Current estimates call for an arena in the downtown railyard to cost just over $400 million. The city may be able to raise $200 million in parking revenues to fund a big piece of the project.

That's a significant commitment for a city of laid-off cops trying to keep its major sports team while boosting its downtown.

Is the NBA going to say that effort is not good enough because the current Kings owners can't help finance the arena? And would a new arena enable the Maloofs to commit more to player salaries, pulling the team out of the league's payroll basement?

For that matter, how would the current loan of nearly $70 million be paid off if the Kings vacated the former Arco Arena?

These issues – financial issues – are at the root of fan angst over why a young coach like Smart is running the Kings instead of a "name" coach. They are behind criticism of team basketball president Geoff Petrie, who gets ripped on social media sites for assembling undersized and young teams on the skimpiest budget in the NBA.

It's true that NBA stars such as Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler worked deals landing them in Los Angeles and New York, respectively. Meanwhile, the Kings signed Chuck Hayes, a nice player but a backup on elite teams, because he wanted to come to Sacramento when the stars didn't.

You can't blame the Maloofs if NBA stars don't find Sacramento sexy. But another turnoff has to be a team with the lowest payroll that plays in a building named after a bankrupt company.

It's very fair to question whether the trajectory of this franchise can be changed by this ownership group.

It's also fair to say we're going to find out really soon.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

• Read more articles by Marcos Breton

Order Reprint