Sacramento hires Alvin Gentry as interim coach after firing Walton

NS Sacramento Kings didn’t search very long or far to find a new head coach. Less than two hours after news of Sacramento Fire Luke Walton first made the rounds on Sunday, reports emerged that the team has named current assistant Alvin Gentry as temporary coach.

Kings have chosen Alvin Gentry as their next coach, sources say @TheAthletic

– Sam Amick (@sam_aick) November 21, 2021

Gentry, one of the longest-serving coaches in the NBA, joined the Kings as the associated head coach in October 2020. Sacramento is expected to pay Walton the remainder of the contract. copper until the end of the 2022-23 season, that total comes to more than 11 million dollars.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has reported that Gentry’s new deal with the team includes not only a pay raise, but performance incentives that could allow him to keep the job on a long-term basis into the future. .

Source: Alvin Gentry will become Kings interim coach. Gentry had a contract until 2022-2023, got a raise to take the temp job, and agreed on some success standards for the rest of this season with the team to try and keep the job longer.

– Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 21, 2021

Gentry, 67, most recently head coach with New Orleans Pelicans. He was 175-225 in 5 seasons at New Orleans from 2015-16 to 2019-20, coaching both Anthony Davis and Zion Williamson. gentry has famously succeeded Mike D’Antoni as the head coach of Phoenix Suns in the late 2000s, guiding Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire, and company to the 2010 Western Conference Finals. His first coaching contract in the NBA came on an interim basis with the Miami Heat. in 1995.

The Kings, judged with an unofficial proxy from competitive ownership for knockouts, are 6-11 a month into the regular season, alone in 12th at the Western Conference .