Vivek Ranadive Reportedly Called Out Kings Players, Staff with 'Roast' at Team Dinner

Sacramento King governor Vivek Ranadivé reportedly employed a unique motivational tactic at a recent team dinner.

Speaking Thursday on the Zach Lowe Show (h/t NBABase), The Ringer's Zach Lowe reported that Ranadivé roasted his entire team, including players and staff members.

"They went out to a fancy training [camp] dinner, team, the whole team, the staff, everything," Lowe said. "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 added, "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 punch line to motivate us.' He was not saying, 'I, Vivek Ranadivé, believe these things about you, but here's what people say about you, prove us wrong.'"

Ranadivé purchased the Kings in 2013, and he has not presided over much success since then.

In fact, the Kings have made the playoffs only one time during Ranadivé's tenure, that being a first-round exit at the hands of the Golden State Warriors in 2023.

There was hope that the Kings had finally gotten out of the doldrums at that point, as they ended a 16-year playoff drought, but it did not prove to be the momentum builder many expected.

Instead, the Kings narrowly missed the playoffs with a 46-36 record in 2024, dipped to 40-42 in 2025, and bottomed out last season with a 22-60 mark, which was tied for the worst record in the Western Conference.

Throughout the offseason, rumors and speculation ran rampant regarding the Kings having a fire sale and moving on from many of their best players.

Sacramento did waive DeMar DeRozan, but the likes of Domantas Sabonis and Zach LaVine are somewhat surprisingly still on the roster.

Perhaps the Kings want to see if they can mesh well with rookie No. 7 overall draft pick Darius Acuff Jr., catch lightning in a bottle and get the team back in the playoff mix.

If not, both Sabonis and LaVine will undoubtedly be popular trade candidates throughout the 2026-27 campaign.

The first opportunity to see if Ranadivé's motivational tactics worked will come on Oct. 21 when the Kings go on the road to face the Los Angeles Clippers in their regular-season opener.