Kings head coach Mike Brown told reporters, including Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 KTXL (Twitter link), that assistant coach Luke Loucks will move to a front-of-bench role after Jordi Fernandez‘s departure to Brooklyn. Brown added that assistant Doug Christie will likely coach Sacramento’s Summer League team, though that isn’t set in stone. After winning a tiebreaker with Golden State, there’s now a 92.9% chance the Kings will end up with the No. 13 overall pick in June’s draft. GM Monte McNair said Sacramento is “excited” about the prospects who could be available at that spot, but the team wil ..read more

Timberwolves big man Naz Reid has been named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, the league announced on Wednesday evening (via Twitter). A former undrafted free agent, Reid averaged 13.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 0.9 BPG on .477/.414/.736 shooting in 81 games this season (24.2 MPG). The other two finalists for the award were Kings guard Malik Monk and Bucks big man Bobby Portis. Monk appeared in 72 games this season for Sacramento, all off the bench. He averaged 15.4 PPG, 2.9 RPG and 5.1 APG on .443/.350/.829 shooting in 26.0 MPG. Portis, who also finished third last season, averaged 13.8 PPG and 7 ..read more

De’Aaron Fox says it’s impossible to think of this Kings season as anything but a major disappointment, he told Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. Sacramento was bounced in the play-in tournament. “You want to continue to play for more,” Fox said. “I don’t think we were bad this year, but obviously the West got tougher and I don’t think we stepped up to that plate. … We took a step backward a little bit as a team. We still have things we can continue to get better at as a group.” In the same story, Patterson notes that Keon Ellis and Kevin Huerter could have a spirited battle for the Kings’ st ..read more

Tiebreakers among teams with identical regular-season records were broken on Monday through random drawings to determine the order for this year’s draft prior to the lottery. The results are as follows, according to a press release from the league: Charlotte Hornets (No. 3) over Portland Trail Blazers (No. 4). Note: The Hornets will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Trail Blazers. Sacramento Kings (No. 13) over Golden State Warriors (No. 14) Note: The Kings will get one more lottery ball combination (out of 1,000) than the Warriors. Note: The Warriors will send ..read more

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Sixth Man of the Year finalist Malik Monk made it pretty clear that he plans to test the open market in free agency this summer, tweets Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee. “I can go somewhere else with a lot more money and be in a worse situation, so you never know,” the Kings guard said. “I’ve got a great agent who’s going to do his job. I think my job is done.” Sacramento holds Monk’s Early Bird rights, so the team is somewhat limited in what it can offer him this summer. Monk said in a perfect world, he’d “definitely” like to return, but he’s not sure w ..read more

The Nets have made it official, announcing today in a press release that they’ve named Jordi Fernandez their new head coach. Word officially broke last Monday that Brooklyn had decided to hire Fernandez. “As we progressed through an extensive search over the past six weeks, it became increasingly clear that Jordi is the best coach to lead our team forward,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a statement. “Jordi brings a diverse set of experiences and basketball knowledge gained over the course of a coaching career that has taken him around the world. “Each step of the way, Jordi has consi ..read more

Mavericks guard Luka Doncic, Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic were revealed on Sunday as the finalists for the Most Valuable Player award, according to the NBA (Twitter link). Doncic led the league in scoring (33.9 points per game) and finished second in assists (9.8) while also grabbing 9.2 rebounds per contest. Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to the top seed in the Western Conference by averaging 30.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.0 steals per contest. Jokic, who is widely considered the favorite to win his third MVP trophy, averaged 26.4 poi ..read more

After missing the playoffs by way of falling to the Pelicans in the play-in, there will be questions regarding whether or not the current build of the Kings has plateaued, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. On one hand, a team that brought back the same starting five from last season went from the No. 3 seed to out of the playoffs. On the other, the Kings finished just two wins shy of their total from last year despite last-season injuries to Kevin Huerter and Malik Monk. An already strong Western Conference is projected to get even stronger next year with almost every team in the conference set ..read more

Suns guard Bradley Beal admitted that the finger he injured on his right hand last month is still far from 100%, but told reporters on Thursday that he has gotten more comfortable playing with a wrap on his ring finger and dealing with the pain (Twitter video link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports). “It’s definitely a little, I think, partially torn, sprained, whatever they want to call it,” Beal said. “I haven’t had an image on it in weeks. The swelling’s not going anywhere, that’s one thing the doc said, he said you’ve kind of gotta deal with it, so I’m cool. I’ve been shooting it alright ..read more

If the Heat and Pelicans were fully healthy entering Friday’s play-in games, they’d likely be considered solid home favorites. Instead, both teams will be without their leading scorers, with Jimmy Butler sidelined for Miami due to an MCL sprain and Zion Williamson on the shelf for New Orleans as a result of a hamstring strain. The injuries to Butler and Williamson don’t necessarily mean that the Heat and Pelicans won’t win and advance on Friday, but they’ve created a sense that anything could happen in either one of the remaining play-in games. The Heat are still considered two-point favorites ..read more