Who is Scott Perry? A quick history as he reportedly takes the helm as Kings GM
Less than 24 hours after the Sacramento Kings’ elimination Wednesday evening from playoff contention with a loss in the NBA Western Conference play-in tournament, the organization parted ways with general manager Monte McNair and reportedly selected his replacement: Scott Perry.
Perry, a 61-year-old Detroit native, has more than two decades of front office experience, including a brief stint with the Kings.
Who is Perry? And what experience does he bring as he takes the front office helm of what will undoubtedly be a new era of Sacramento Kings basketball? Here’s a rundown.
Detroit native to front office presence
Perry played college hoops for one season at Oregon and the rest of his collegiate career at Wayne State in Detroit, graduating from the latter in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, according to the Wayne State athletics department.
He served as an assistant coach for Michigan men’s basketball from 1993 to 1997 and as Eastern Kentucky’s head coach from 1997 to 2000. Perry also has assistant coaching experience at UC Berkeley and Detroit Mercy, according to Wayne State.
The Detroit Pistons hired Perry as a front office executive in summer 2000, a role he remained in during the early 2000s, including the Pistons’ 2004 championship run.
Perry served as assistant GM of the Seattle SuperSonics for the 2007-08 season, then returned to the Pistons, becoming the team’s vice president of basketball operations from 2008 to 2012.
Following his time with the Pistons, Perry became vice president and assistant general manager of the Orlando Magic under then-GM Rob Hennigan.
Perry’s first tenure in Sacramento
The Kings and owner Vivek Ranadive first hired Perry as their vice president of basketball operations in April 2017, joining then-GM Vlade Divac in the front office.
Less than three months later in July 2017, the New York Knicks brought Perry on as general manager. He remained in that role until his contract expired at the end of the 2022-23 NBA season.
The Knicks in that span made the playoffs twice: a first-round elimination in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season and a conference semifinal appearance in 2022-23, which ended in defeat to the Miami Heat.
During Perry’s first, brief tenure in Sacramento, the Kings drafted the player who went on to become their star for the better part of the last decade: guard De’Aaron Fox, selected No. 5 overall in June 2017.
Fox departed Sacramento this February, traded to the San Antonio Spurs in a three-team deal that sent Zach LaVine from the Chicago Bulls to the Kings.
Perry’s departure in summer 2017 resulted in the Kings receiving cash and a 2019 second-round draft pick as compensation, because he left Sacramento while still under contract, The Sacramento Bee reported at the time. The Kings ended up with three second-round picks and no first-round picks in 2019.
Notable draft picks linked to Perry
During his time in the Seattle SuperSonics, Orlando Magic, Detroit Pistons and Sacramento Kings front offices, those teams selected a number of top talents in the first round of the NBA draft.
Those picks include:
▪ Kevin Durant (No. 2 overall in 2007 by the SuperSonics, now the Oklahoma City Thunder)
▪ Victor Oladipo (No. 2 overall in 2013 by the Magic)
▪ Aaron Gordon (No. 4 overall in 2014 by the Magic)
▪ De’Aaron Fox (No. 5 overall in 2017 by the Kings)
▪ RJ Barrett (No. 3 overall in 2019 by the Knicks)
▪ Obi Toppin (No. 8 overall in 2020 by the Knicks)
Perry’s latest ventures
Perry since his Knicks contract expired in 2023 has been an analyst and media personality.
Perry from October 2023 to October 2024 served as an ESPN in-studio analyst for NBA basketball.
He also produces video analysis on social media. In his most recent analysis video, posted to X on Wednesday, he gave insight on the upcoming NBA Eastern Conference playoff series between two of his former teams the Knicks and Pistons.
This story was originally published April 18, 2025 at 1:56 PM.
