Alvin

Gentry

After finishing the season as the interim head coach of the Kings, the team let Gentry walk. Gentry may not have been the man for the head coaching job, but they wanted to keep him around the organization.

The Kings are obviously going for a full restructuring and will have a very different staff next season. The Kings only won 30 games this season and it will be interesting to see who they hire this spring/summer. And no, we still can’t believe they traded Tyrese Haliburton to the Pacers.

Gentry took over for Luke Walton after he was fired early in the season. The Kings went on to fail to qualify for the postseason, and they will now begin their search for a head coach immediately.

Marvin Bagley and Terence Davis recently entered the protocols, and there are fears that more players could be headed that way. The team is planning to retest all players, so we should get another update this evening.

According to Woj, Gentry says that he is “largely asymptomatic, except for a scratchy throat.” Gentry will have to return two consecutive negative tests at least 24 hours apart in order to return to the bench. In the meantime, the Kings have canceled their shoot around for Wednesday, and are going through testing to see if there are any more positive tests. Either Doug Christie or Mike Longabardi are the most likely candidates to serve as acting head coach, though no decision has been made yet.

Doug Christie was also in the mix for the interim job, but instead Sacramento will hand the reins to a well-respected coach with decades of sideline experience. Gentry has a career 46.2% win rate as an NBA head coach, a number that may decline if the 6-11 Kings can’t gain traction. The Kings’ collection of guards will be an immediate project for Gentry to sort out, as will the Kings’ not-quite-settled forward spots.

“I’m excited to add Alvin’s valuable experience and leadership to the team,” Walton said in a news release. “His veteran coaching perspective will be a great addition and I look forward to working with him again to continue developing our group.” Gentry and Walton coached alongside one another in Golden State, and they’re now back on the bench together in Sacramento. However, if the Kings don’t make vast improvements in Walton’s second season at the helm, Gentry could soon be presiding over this franchise in a head coaching role.

Doc Rivers is also reportedly interested in bringing on Gentry to his staff, and Gentry is familiar with both guys. However, the timeline for him returning to a head coaching role may come quicker in Sacramento, with Walton on thin ice after a rough year and working under a new front office staff that didn’t hire him in the first place, so that may be factoring into Gentry’s decision.

Gentry has also received interest from the Kings to serve as a lead assistant there, so it doesn’t sound like he’ll be out of work much longer, although it looks like he’ll have to take a brief step back into an assistant role before earning another head coaching opportunity. Gentry served as one of Rivers’ top assistant coaches in Los Angeles, and he also worked alongside Luke Walton while they were a part of Steve Kerr’s coaching staff in Golden State, so he has working experience with both these guys.

Through his time at the helm in New Orleans, Gentry compiled a record of 175-225 and he only made the playoffs once. However, he presided over a roster that was almost always missing key players, and in the one season where he had a relatively full roster, he coached New Orleans to an impressive first-round sweep over the Trail Blazers in 2018. It shouldn’t be long before he finds another job, but it’ll be interesting to see how Brandon Ingram performs in a different system next year.