Peja Stojakovic details progress of the Stockton Kings since moving closer to home
It’s been a year and a half since the Sacramento Kings relocated their G-League affiliate team from Reno to Stockton. According to Peja Stojakovic, Sacramento’s assistant general manager and former All-Star, the move has been a big step forward for player development.
“I think that it was a great move to purchase the team and bring them closer to Sacramento,” Stojakovic told The Bee. “(It’s) allowing them to practice and live in Sacramento, and just be able to get all the support we can provide.”
Stojakovic served as the general manager for the Reno Bighorns starting in 2015, which he did along with his role as director of player personnel and development for the Kings. In 2018, he was promoted to an assistant general manager position for Sacramento, which includes oversight of the team’s G-League affiliate.
“It was two hours away from Sacramento, and it was much harder to use all the resources that the Kings, as an organization, would provide from a basketball standpoint,” Stojakovic said.
The franchise purchased a controlling interest of the Reno Bighorns in 2016 and completed the move in 2018 as an attempt to harmonize the two entities and streamline the flow of players, coaches and staff.
In keeping with their goal of a unified identity, the team was renamed with a familiar moniker: The Stockton Kings.
Stojakovic said players and staff in Reno had felt isolated from the NBA team. But with Stockton’s home court just 45 minutes down Interstate 5, operations run more smoothly. And most of the time, the functional distance is even less than that.
“The team only plays games in Stockton,” Stojakovic said. “The staff and the players and everybody are in Sacramento. They are practicing in Natomas. They live in Sacramento. So all of our staff members, coaches, training coaches, executives are in Sacramento.”
Everything the development team needs to access to is right there — scouting, sports science, the analytics department and much more. And with a growing list of pros emerging from Stockton, it’s easy to see the gears moving efficiently.
Eric Mika, Gabe Vincent, Cody Demps, Cameron Reynolds and Kalin Lucas have all had midseason callups since the relocation from Reno. Harry Giles, Justin James, Kyle Guy, DaQuan Jeffries and Caleb Swanigan have also seen playing time on both levels for the Kings.
“It’s much easier to assign guys on such a short notice and bring them back,” Stojakovic said. “I think it’s been very beneficial.”
Wenyen Gabriel is perhaps the biggest success story of the affiliate team in the Stockton era. After entering the league as an undrafted free agent in 2018, he signed a two-way deal that allowed him to play for both Sacramento and Stockton. One year later he earned a standard NBA contract.
The fluidity between both Kings teams is apparent in the staff. General Manager Anthony McClish, assistant general manager Drake U’u and head coach Ty Ellis are among those who work for both the Stockton and Sacramento Kings.
“Most of the Stockton employees are year-round employees,” Stojakovic said. “When the Stockton season is over, they join the Kings and they are working and learning from our staff members.”
Ellis spent the summer with the front office, learning about what the franchise wants from its next generation of talent. Stojakovic says Ellis understands Sacramento’s system and prepares his players to be ready for a call to the next level.
Two-way players Guy and Jeffries are the next projects for the Kings. Ellis and his Stockton staff are currently focused on teaching players to play different positions than they did in college, in order to translate better to the NBA game.
And while development is the focus, the city of Stockton has been treated to a quality product in the meantime. The Stockton Kings made the G-League playoffs in their first season and are on track to do the same this year.
Stockton is hoping they can catch lightning in a bottle and find the next Pascal Siakam, a current NBA All-Star who got his start in the G-League. But above that, the goal is to establish a culture and an environment consistent with what Sacramento expects from all it’s players and staff.
“The G-League is all about giving opportunities,” Stojakovic said.
With Sacramento and Stockton more tightly intertwined than ever, those opportunities are coming more frequently.