Kings’ D’Alessandro to Leave Team for Position With Denver Nuggets

Photo Credit: Kyle Terada/USA TODAY

A departure that has been foreshadowed for months now in Sacramento, as it’s been declared that Kings general manager, Pete D’Alessandro, has left his position in the organization.

This departure isn’t one where he rides out into the sunset or pursues other ventures; D’Alessandro is accepting a front-office position with the Denver Nuggets, where he was previously employed as a front-office executive before joining the Kings in 2013. D’Alessandro will serve as general manager of the Nuggets. D’Alessandro had a choice to become the athletic director of his alma mater at St. Johns, but he chose to return to Denver.

In Sacramento, D’Alessandro’s presence lost its weight quickly once leaked stories started to pour out about his power and decision making struggles going on in Sacramento. Some rumors and stories even brewed that owner Vivek Ranadive had the true power over D’Alessandro. In March, former Kings’ player Vlade Divac was named Vice President of Basketball Operations, and Ranadive gave Divac the role of, “decision maker” for the organization, leaving D’Alessandro in the weeds, which is not good for a person that high in ranking .

The Kings front office has been less like an organization, but more like a drama sitcom. There has been conflicting reports that D’Alessandro and Chris Mullin were behind the questionable firing of head coach Mike Malone, then some say Vivek forced Pete to make the move.

I ponder this because if D’Alessandro is joining the Nuggets, which just so happens to be interviewing Malone as a serious candidate for the coaching job, certain aspects point out that it might have been Vivek who made the decision.

Midway into the season, D’Alessandro’s consultant, Mullin, departed from the team to become coach at his alma mater at St. Johns, just weeks after the Kings were trying to persuade Mullin to become coach next season.

Mullin isn’t the only personnel to vanish from the team; according to the Sacramento Bee, long term King official Shareef Abdur-rahim was let go from the organization after a disagreement with D’Alessandro to draft now Kings shooting guard Nik Stauskas. This apparently rubbed people the wrong way as well as star player DeMarcus Cousins who was mostly angered because the way the Mike Malone firing went down, as well as the team’s toying of then interim coach Tyrone Corbin, who was then replaced by now coach George Karl in mid –February.

D’Alessandro’s most notable moves during his tenure will be the successful trade and signing of Rudy Gay, but also his plunders and handlings of players such as Tyreke Evans, Isaiah Thomas, as well as signing Carl Landry (four-years, $26 million), drafting Nik Stauskas after already drafting shooting guard Ben Mclemore the previous year and not being able to move Jason Thompson.

Now hopefully the Kings can remain more stable on the court and in the front-office, as Divac and Vivek have a lot to work to do as well as assistant general manager Mike Bratz.

*Sources Yahoo Sports & Sacramento Bee