Luke Walton Fired as Kings HC; Alvin Gentry Named Interim HC

The Sacramento Kings reportedly fired coach Luke Walton on Sunday amid the team's 6-11 start, the team announced. 

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN first reported the news.

Wojnarowski also reported associate coach Alvin Gentry has been named interim coach.

Meanwhile, assistant coach Rico Hines has been promoted to the front of the bench:

The Kings went 68-93 in Walton's tenure. Walton previously spent three years as the Los Angeles Lakers head coach before being fired after the 2018-19 season. He immediately joined a Kings organization that hoped he would develop as a coach along with the team's young roster.

The results never followed.

Walton posted back-to-back 31-41 records, marks that were actually worse than the 39-43 team he took over. While De'Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton emerged as potential cornerstones, Walton never got a consistent effort on the defensive end and failed to make progress as an in-game manager. His tenure ended with the Kings losing seven of their last eight games.

Walton was once seen as one of the brightest young coaches in basketball after shepherding the Golden State Warriors to a 39-4 record during the 2015-16 season when Steve Kerr was recovering from back surgery. Two tenures as a head coach later, Walton may already be out of chances at age 41.

Kings general manager Monte McNair will likely start a full-scale coaching search after this season.