NBA exec: Buddy Hield trade and other moves interim Kings GM Joe Dumars must consider
Newly appointed interim general manager and executive vice president of basketball operations Joe Dumars has two positions to fill in the Kings’ front office following the resignations of Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic.
League sources told The Sacramento Bee potential candidates have begun to position themselves as possible suitors for the job Divac vacated Friday after five seasons as the team’s general manager. One source said the staff Dumars assembles in Sacramento will have to reboot the team’s roster and culture following years of bad draft picks, imprudent spending and a pernicious environment where mistakes were not admitted and dissenting voices weren’t properly valued.
Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé is entrusting Dumars to establish a long-term strategy for the organization’s basketball operations structure. Dumars spent 14 years as president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons and constructed a championship team in 2004. Dumars joined the Kings organization as an adviser last summer. He will work with Kings assistant general manager Ken Catanella, a salary cap and analytics expert who previously worked under Dumars in Detroit.
One candidate the Kings could pursue is New York Knicks general manager Scott Perry. Perry worked with Dumars and Catanella in Detroit. Perry helped Dumars assemble a team that made six consecutive Eastern Conference finals appearances from 2003-08. Perry briefly served as the Kings vice president of basketball operations under Divac in 2017, but he left after three months for the job in New York.
The Kings might want to take their time before filling the vacancies in their front office, but as the search gets underway Dumars and Catanella already have important matters to discuss. The NBA Draft will be held Oct. 16. Nemanja Bjelica’s $7.2 million salary for the 2020-21 season will become guaranteed if he is not waived by Oct. 17. Free agency begins Oct. 18.
De’Aaron Fox will be eligible for a large contract extension. Bogdan Bogdanovic will be a restricted free agent. Kent Bazemore, Harry Giles III and Alex Len will be unrestricted free agents.
Dumars will also have to decide what to do with Buddy Hield. The 27-year-old shooting guard has been unhappy since coach Luke Walton moved him into a backup role in January, three months after the Kings signed him to a four-year, $86 million extension. Hield is an elite 3-point shooter, but he struggles with ball handling and is prone to defensive lapses.
A league executive told The Bee the Kings erred in overpaying Hield, Harrison Barnes and other players over the past few years. Hield will be paid $24.4 million next season in the first year of his new deal. Barnes was paid $24.1 million this season in the first year of his contract.
“You can’t pay everybody $25 million,” the executive said.
The executive believes the Kings will try to trade Hield, but he said that might not be easy. His ball-handling issues and defensive struggles are no secret around the league.
The Kings gave Hield high-end starter money and then benched him, which only made the flaws in his game more pronounced. At the same time, the decision to start Bogdanovic might have increased his value just as the Kings are preparing to match offers for him in restricted free agency.
“I would rather spend my money on Bogdanovic,” the executive said. “He’s smarter and he’s a better fit with Fox. Fox is getting better. He’s not there yet, but he’s going to be a hell of a player.”
Divac addressed Hield’s unhappiness in an exclusive interview with The Bee on Saturday, a day after stepping down.
“He didn’t like the role he was in,” Divac said. “I support his feeling. But for Buddy Hield, he has to look in the mirror and see what he does right and what he does wrong. He’s an elite shooter in this league. But he has to provide that (more consistently). He has to do a better job defensively.”
These are the most pressing personnel matters Dumars and Catanella must discuss as they fill out the front office in Sacramento. Walton will be back for a second season after Divac signed him to a four-year deal in April 2019. Walton has preached the importance of defense since the day he arrived and said that will continue to be the team’s top priority going into next season.
Dumars, a six-time All-Star and four-time All-Defensive First Team selection who won back-to-back championships as a player for the Pistons, might be inclined to agree with Walton. That thinking could be what guides their decisions on Hield, Bogdanovic, Bjelica, Len and others as Dumars begins to retool the roster.
This story was originally published August 17, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
