Rumors

At that time, a dispirited Maxime Raynaud was wheeled from the X-ray room back to the area outside the visitors locker room. While there, Kings general manager Scott Perry and team owner Vivek Ranadive visited him. Ranadive gave Raynaud a hug, and team sources confirmed that there was a growing fear they've lost their young center for the foreseeable future. The team did not have an official updated on Raynaud's injury after the game. He is expected to undergo an MRI late Saturday night.

ESPN

Q. The stuff online today was like it was almost like the episode of The Office. I don't know if you've seen it where Michael Scott roasts his employees and he goes one by one, like boom, roasted. So, you're saying it was not a roast? Scott Perry: No, absolutely not. Like I said it's all motivational about, okay, 'we're behind you, totally supportive, let's move this forward as a collective and let's figure out how we can prove all of the naysayers wrong this year. And that's what he's pulling for. Obviously Vivek understands where we're at in terms of our building of this roster and the team as well too. So, again, I just hated to see that because again I know the spirit in which it was delivered and the spirit for the most part from everyone I spoke with how it was received. So definitely nothing from a negative perspective from my view and more lighthearted and more 'let's prove people wrong'. That was the overarching theme to that evening and to his brief talk.

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Scott Perry: I asked Vivek to say a couple words to the team and it was great to have him there. He loves his team, he loves his players. One of the things that he did when he started his conversation, the first thing he did, was really light-heartedly, was talked about himself and how he's been viewed or treated in the media for a number of years. And then started saying the same to a number of the guys in the room and then everybody that I visited with afterwards all kind of had the same take I did, was very motivational, because he started with himself in such a light-hearted manner, then to talk about players, and how they may have been disrespected or how we've been counted out as an organization and let's all use that as a collective to prove people wrong. And that was the clear messaging in the whole meeting from him. Vivek has a lot of respect for his players. There's no bigger fan of any player that puts on a King uniform than himself. And so I just hated to see that something was like that kind of portrayed that way where it clearly from my vantage point was not meant that way, intended that or delivered that way. It was really delivered from a a light lighthearted perspective. There was no roast.

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The Sacramento Kings have been making headlines before the NBA season, albeit not for things they would like. This continued with a story NBA insider Zach Lowe shared during an episode of his podcast that was released on Thursday night. “I have a good Kings story for you… I heard this about a week ago; I’ve called up people who can verify it. It has been verified. They went out to [a] fancy training dinner, team, the whole team, the staff, everything. And at the dinner, Vivek Ranadivé spoke, and he kind of turned the dinner into a roast of lots of people in the room, telling them all the ways in which they have been failing as players, coaches, executives, whatever,” Lowe said.

New York Post

“And I checked with the Kings, and they confirmed the gist of what I would say. Some people were alarmed and were like, ‘This is not going over the way you intended.’ Some people thought, ‘I get what he’s doing. He’s using the fact that we’ve become a media punchline to motivate us,'” he continued. “He’s not saying, ‘I, Vivek Ranadivé, believe these things about you. But here’s what people say about you. Prove us wrong. But it was described to me as a prolonged roast that landed with some of the audience, and some of the audience not as much.”

New York Post

NBABase: Vivek Ranadivé reportedly turned a dinner with Kings players, executives, and coaches into a roast where he poked fun at all the ways they’ve been failing, per @ZachLowe_NBA 😭 “They went out to fancy training dinner, team, the whole team, the staff, everything. And at the dinner, Vivek Ranadivé spoke, and he kind of turned the dinner into a roast of lots of people in the room, telling them all the ways in which they have been failing as players, coaches, executives, whatever.”

x.com

The Kings resemble the Steelers in few conceivable ways. One has continuity in ownership and a healthy distance between the front office. The other does not, though team sources say Vivek Ranadive has kept his word in allowing Scott Perry full decision-making freedom the past four months.

ESPN

Sam Amick: To be clear here, there is no pushback from Kings owner Vivek Ranadive regarding their current plan. The point, which was said in a big-picture sense, is that Scott Perry is making it clear - from the top on down - that they need to be very patient and prudent here.

Twitter

The Milwaukee Bucks have conducted background due diligence on Zach LaVine and others around the league, as usual, sources told HoopsHype. However, nothing is imminent as Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo nears a return from a low-grade adductor strain. Should Milwaukee’s interest in LaVine become more serious, it’s worth noting that Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma and Kings Governor Vivek Ranadive both invested in a new women’s professional sports venture called Major League Volleyball, and Kuzma has been linked to the Kings via trade rumors for several seasons.

HoopsHype

Well, that’s definitely something that people will want to know more about. I’ve reported in the past, before you came back that Vivek played a significant part in the decision to fire Mike Brown last year, that he played a significant part in the decision to trade De’Aaron, specifically, for Zach (LaVine, who was with the Chicago Bulls, in a three-team deal). And there’s been a reality for a long time now that his involvement made things more challenging for people in the front office. So how would you characterize the way that it has functioned so far and your level of confidence that the dynamic can be healthy? Scott Perry: When I used the word autonomy, I meant that. I’m not someone — and you know me well enough — that I’m not someone who will give lip service or say something that’s not actual truth or fact. So as the fan base examines and looks at moves, they need to look at it … from the time I got here to however long I’m going to be here. I’m going to have the ultimate autonomy and authority to make what I believe are the necessary decisions to give the fan base — this fan base that’s been yearning for winning for so long — an opportunity to have that type of team to cheer for. But we’re a ways away from that now, obviously. I want them to feel comfortable and confident in my years of experience in this position, as well as a number of the members of my front office, because we do this as a collective. We will eventually get where we want to go, and people (will be) proud of the product that they see on the floor.

New York Times

MrBuckBuck: The Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé and the front office looked visually displeased all game and left late in the 3rd quarter. …

x.com

It wasn’t until after practice that the players learned that something was wrong. They were called into a meeting room by Anjali Ranadive, the team’s general manager and the daughter of Vivek Ranadive, a co-owner of the Sacramento Kings. She and Stockton’s coach, Lindsey Harding, broke the news to the team. Chance Comanche hadn’t been called up — he had been taken into custody. “They told us that Chance was arrested, and that was all the detail that they gave us,” Stephens said. “Your mind immediately starts wandering, ‘What was it?’ I was thinking of something small, like parking tickets. Never in a million years would I have guessed what was coming.”

New York Times

After conducting interviews and perceiving inconsistencies in Harnden’s story, the police obtained a search warrant for her home and car and seized two iPhones and an iPad. Then they saw the messages. On Dec. 13, they arrested Harnden. Two days later, they arrested Comanche. Harnden refused to speak to detectives, but the police said Comanche confessed and even provided a “pinpoint” location of Rodgers’s remains, which until then had gone undiscovered. The news of Comanche’s arrest, and the details of the crimes he was accused of committing, reverberated back through his life. Teammates and coaches from high school, college and pro teams checked and then double- and triple-checked their messages — and their memories. Eman Rafalian, who played with Comanche at Beverly Hills High School, remembered him walking into a party at Rafalian’s house hoisting a trophy after their team had won a basketball tournament. “I think he was easily influenced by the people around him, and that’s the only way I can make sense of any of this,” Rafalian said.

New York Times

Sam Amick: There is a sense from some people involved that there's a real reluctance not only to finally “quit him,” if you will, but also to see him go up the road to another Northern California NBA team. It’s run by a guy in Vivek Ranadivé, who used to be with the Warriors. And what if Kuminga blows up and becomes a total star? From a personal ownership dynamic level, there are some folks that feel like that could be playing a small part. Again, that's not really relevant, because these other things are the real obstacles. But I mean, Joe—like a lot of owners—is very involved, too.

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