The purple haze may hang over the Kings for some time, if only because Tuesday's news that they would pick fourth instead of first in the June 25 draft was a major blow to the immediate marketing possibilities.

But while the phones may not be ringing off the hook in the sales department, they likely will be inside the basketball operations offices.

Picking fourth means the variables are many. If the first three teams picking – the Los Angeles Clippers, Memphis and Oklahoma City – don't move from their current spots, there is nothing for certain other than the widely held belief that Oklahoma's Blake Griffin will be the first to go. And while it is far from certain that Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie sees Spanish point guard Ricky Rubio as the answer to the team's deficiencies at that spot, there are numerous scenarios in which the 18-year-old could conceivably fall their way.

But the Kings – who also have the Nos. 23 and 31 picks – are likely to be approached by other teams with attractive trade options that might not have existed otherwise. One league source on Wednesday even indicated the seemingly unthinkable, that the Clippers would be willing to trade the top pick – which they have already confirmed would be Griffin – for the right package. The Kings could move down in the draft as well, with that possibility more likely if they target a point guard who could be available beyond the fourth spot such as Syracuse's Jonny Flynn, Italy's Brandon Jennings or UCLA's Jrue Holiday.

Holiday, the defensive-minded point guard who is going pro after one season with the Bruins, will be the featured player in the Kings' first draft workout today. He will be joined by guards Aaron Jackson (Duquesne), Josh Akognon (Cal State Fullerton), Brandon Ewing (Wyoming); forward Tremaine Townsend (Cal State Northridge) and center John Bryant (Santa Clara).

The names of more immediate significance, however, belong to Los Angeles Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis and Boston assistant Tom Thibodeau. According to Lakers vice president of public relations John Black, Petrie requested permission to speak with Rambis about their coaching vacancy and is expected to do so after his team's playoff series against Denver. Boston general manager Danny Ainge, meanwhile, said the Kings called requesting permission to speak with Thibodeau.

The addition of the two candidates to the coaching search means Eddie Jordan and Paul Westphal have competition beyond each other. The Kings, meanwhile, have competition for every candidate but Westphal, as Jordan and Rambis have already interviewed for the Philadelphia post, and Thibodeau is expected to do so.

While Thibodeau doesn't have the head-coaching experience that Petrie indicated was a requirement at the outset of the search, he was interviewed by the Kings in 2007. Rambis is continuing his decade-long bid to return to the head-coaching ranks that will involve the Kings for a third time.

In the summer of 1998, Rambis was considered for the Kings job – ironically enough – after Jordan was fired. Yet while Rambis was among the first group of candidates that included Paul Silas, Rick Carlisle and Scott Skiles, Rick Adelman was brought in with a second wave of candidates and given the job.

Rambis' lone head-coaching job came when he took over the Lakers after Del Harris was fired 12 games into the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. Under Rambis, the Kobe Bryant/Shaquille O'Neal-led Lakers went 24-13, then beat Houston in the first round of the playoffs before being swept by San Antonio in the conference semifinals. Phil Jackson took the reins the following season.

Rambis interviewed with the Kings again in the summer of 2007 but was passed over in favor of Stan Van Gundy before Van Gundy opted for the Orlando job. The Kings hired Reggie Theus.

Read the Kings blog at www.sacbee.com/kingsblog.