Mike Longabardi leaves Kings for job with Hawks. Will other assistant coaches go, too?
The Kings have announced a number of additions to their coaching staff since hiring former Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown as their head coach. However, they have not confirmed the status of several assistants who served under former coach Luke Walton and interim coach Alvin Gentry.
At least one of those coaches has now moved on. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Monday that Mike Longabardi is leaving Sacramento to become an assistant with the Atlanta Hawks. Longabardi will replace Chris Jent, who recently accepted a position on Darvin Ham’s staff with the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Kings have announced Doug Christie will be retained as an assistant, but there has been no official word on Stacey Augmon, Lindsey Harding, Jonah Herscu and Rico Hines, all of whom were part of last year’s staff. Harding and Herscu are part of the team’s summer league staff, which might suggest they are staying given that the new league year began Friday. Augmon and Hines could be out, but their departures are unconfirmed and it is still possible they will be retained.
Herscu joined the Kings as an advance scout in June 2019 and was promoted to assistant coach in June 2021. The Kings hired Augmon, Harding and Hines as player development coaches in July 2019.
Brown has already filled out much of his staff. In May, the Kings announced they had hired Denver Nuggets assistant Jordi Fernandez as associate head coach. Fernandez and Brown previously worked together with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Nigerian national team. Fernandez is serving as head coach of Sacramento’s summer league team, which will play the Lakers in the final game of the California Classic on Tuesday at Chase Center in San Francisco before going to the Las Vegas Summer League July 7-17.
In June, sources told The Sacramento Bee the Kings were keeping Christie on staff and hiring two new assistants, Jay Triano and Luke Loucks. Christie, who was part of Sacramento’s success under former coach Rick Adelman, was hired as an assistant in August 2021. Triano has 20 years of NBA experience, including head coaching stints with the Toronto Raptors and Phoenix Suns. Loucks, who worked with Brown with the Warriors and the Nigerian national team, came to Sacramento from Phoenix, where he was working in basketball strategy and personnel evaluation.
Sources told The Bee on Saturday that Golden State Warriors player development coach Leandro Barbosa is expected to take a job with the Kings. Barbosa will join Brown’s staff as an assistant coach.
The Kings made another addition to coach Brown’s staff Sunday, sources said, hiring Utah Jazz video coordinator Charles Allen as head video coordinator and special assistant to the head coach.
This story was originally published July 5, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
