Former Kings forward Rudy Gay sat down with Carmelo Anthony and opened up on why the Sacramento Kings in the mid-2010s was ‘basketball hell’, with the decision to hire Carmelo’s former head coach George Karl to replace Michael Malone being a major factor.
“You wanna talk about dysfunctional? I got caught up in a lot of that sh*t. For most of my career, I’ve been in some goofy as* sh*t. I gave the Kings some of my prime years, 22, 7, and 6. At that point, it was a lot… I gave them my best years but the organization was just in the middle.”
Gay said that DeMarcus Cousins wasn’t ready to become the face of the franchise but the Kings pushed him into that role early.
“Sacramento had Cousins, who was young and didn’t know what the f**k to do, he just did what he wanted. Shout out to Cuz tho, love you, boy. Just putting a lot of energy into a young player who wasn’t ready yet. I’m like 26 or 27, I’m like Z-Bo but, it is what it is. I still went out there and did the best I could. Coach Malone is one of my favorite coaches and he tried his hardest.”
He revealed he told the Kings he would only re-sign if coach Malone stayed on the team, but the team fired Malone two days after he re-signed.
“The contract that I signed when I re-upped with them, it was on the premises that Mike Malone was going to be there. Two days later, they fired him.”
Gay, Anthony, and The Kid MERO mocked Malone’s replacement George Karl, as Gay divulged how the ‘basketball hell’ comment was linked to Karl.
“I said that in confidence man. He comes in there, I’m already disgruntled and playing through sh*t. When you get to that point, every day you look at your phone and speak to your agent, ‘I’m trying to get the f**k out of here.’ (Karl) comes in like, ‘We gonna do something about this,’ I’m like … I said was like, ‘Bro, you don’t even know what the f**k you getting into…’ You think so, alright, welcome to basketball hell, ni**a.”
Gay was really upset about them firing Malone for Karl.
“He’s so arrogant to the point where it’s like, you aren’t the right person for this. We had Mike Malone. That sh*t was wack, I didn’t like how they did that.”
Gay played for the Kings for four seasons, averaging 19.3 points and 6.0 rebounds. His win-loss record on the franchise was 86-137, showing the overall struggles the franchise had as a middle-of-the-pack Western Conference team.
The Kings didn’t make the Playoffs for 16 consecutive seasons before the streak ended in the 2023 Playoffs, as the Kings secured the No. 3 seed in the West. While the season ended with a first-round loss, it was a big moment for a franchise that had the longest post-season drought in NBA history.
There was a foundation that players like Gay, DeMarcus Cousins, Isaiah Thomas, and more had built but the front office at the time could never put together a strong enough roster to compete in a stacked Western Conference.
After one season of successfully making the Playoffs, the Kings are right back in the lottery. A late-season injury to Malik Monk torpedoed their season, as they fell from No. 6 in the West to No. 9, being eliminated by the Pelicans in the Play-in Game.
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