Sacramento Kings GM Signs Extension: Length Of Deal, Why It Was Deserved

A new day has finally dawned in Sacramento as their hometown Kings are in the thick of things in the Western Conference and general manager Monte McNair is staying on for the future he built.

Sources told Sam Amick of The Athletic that the Kings and McNair agreed on a three-year extension after engineering one of the most improbable turnarounds in NBA history.

Announced as the new general manager and president of basketball operations by the Kings on September 17, 2020, few outside the organization paid attention to it as the Kings were seen as a team far from playoff contention.

Fans should remember McNair as the man responsible for selecting unheralded point guard Tyrese Haliburton from Iowa State with the 12th pick in the 2020 NBA draft in what would turn out to be the beginning of the Kings' resurgence.

Haliburton proved that McNair's faith in him as the franchise cornerstone of the Kings was proven correct when he averaged 13 points on 47.2% shooting from the field, 5.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 30.1 minutes of action throughout his rookie season–earning him All-Rookie First Team honors.

A dilemma started to grow internally though as Haliburton and De'Aaron Fox were both ball-dominant guards and it soon became apparent that one of them will need to be moved in order to push the Kings to new heights.

McNair and the Kings' front office surprised the entire NBA landscape when they dealt the emergent Haliburton, alongside Buddy Hield and Tristan Thompson, to the Indiana Pacers for Domantas Sabonis, Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, and a 2023 second-rounder on February 8, 2022.

Haliburton was not expecting a trade at the time and as fans echoed his sentiments, but it soon became apparent that it was one of the rare win-win trades in NBA history.

The Kings are currently third in the Western Conference with a 27-19 record while Haliburton's status as top dog with the Pacers has brought them to within an assured playoff seed with a 24-25 record–good for ninth.

Trading Haliburton was a necessary evil for the Kings at that point as they opted to trust instead in Fox at point guard who has seen his own field goal percentages jump to 50.7 for the season, his best throughout his six-year career.

While fans know McNair from that move, he also helped improve the team around the margins by bringing in Trey Lyles, drafting Davion Mitchell and Keegan Murray with the ninth and fourth pick of the 2021 and 2022 NBA drafts respectively and Kevin Huerter in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks.

Hiring Mike Brown as their head coach this season was the bow McNair's current tenure needed as he has changed the culture in the Kings' locker room into a winning one.

McNair's methods have undoubtedly brought results to the city of Sacramento and time will tell how far along he can bring the franchise in the next three years.