Sacramento Kings general manager Scott Perry wants to build a real foundation

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The only thing hanging on the wall in Scott Perry’s office is a painting that his wife, Kim, had made for him. It includes the new Kings general manager’s six team principles: Competitive. Professional. Team oriented. Accountable. Tough. Disciplined.

In the center of the painting is a Kings basketball going into a net that says “Scott P. GM” with a crown above and a Larry O’Brien Memorial Championship trophy below.

The Kings entered 2026 with an 8-25 record, third worst in the NBA. With the Kings near the bottom of the Western Conference, it will likely take time for the franchise to reach Perry’s principles. But after making the postseason just once since 2007, the veteran front-office member plans to slowly build a “real foundation” in Sacramento with hopes of putting the franchise on solid ground for long-term success.

“I started thinking that we’ve got to create an identity,” Perry told Andscape prior to the Kings’ 113-107 win over the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 27. “If I got an opportunity to go somewhere else, you really got to start creating an organizational identity and some pillars. And I found that these six qualities — competitive, professional, team oriented, accountable, tough, and disciplined — they permeated in a lot of those successful organizations. So, I just thought those would be important to me in terms of the kind of quality you want your organization to operate from, whether it’s front office, coaches, obviously players, and all like that.

“Then the style of play, these values or pillars, the players, maybe all of them won’t have them in the beginning, but they can work towards it. And we want to work towards that. I just think that helps you build a very strong and solid foundation. In studying it, if you’re going to be a sustainable winner, you’ve got to have a real foundation.”

Sacramento’s playoff appearance in 2023 ended a 16-year playoff drought, but the franchise has missed the postseason the past two seasons. The Kings hired Perry on April 21 as their general manager, marking his second stint with the organization.

Perry returned to Sacramento with 25 years of experience, including most recently as general manager of the New York Knicks from 2017-2023. While Perry was with New York, the Knicks acquired the likes of Jalen Brunson, Julius Randle and RJ Barrett, and made the 2023 Eastern Conference finals.

Perry also served briefly as executive vice president of basketball operations for the Kings in 2017. He held front-office roles with the Seattle SuperSonics, Orlando Magic, and the Detroit Pistons when they won an NBA championship in 2004. Before returning to Sacramento, the former Eastern Kentucky University head basketball coach was an NBA analyst for ESPN.

Kings veteran forward DeMar DeRozan was happy about Perry’s hiring.

“Just me being in the league so long and just knowing the history and people who were a part of legendary teams – and put teams together – and being part of organizations, Scott Perry was always a key name you always knew and respected, even when he did TV,” DeRozan told Andscape.

“Just having that caliber of knowledge basketball-wise and just having that respect he has as a person, having him here speaks volumes with the vision he’s trying to make change with down here.”

The following is an Andscape interview with Perry. He talks about the current state of the Kings and building plans for the future; his rapport with head coach Doug Christie and owner Vivek Ranadive, the roster, the challenges going forward to build long-term success, speaking directly to frustrated Kings fans, reflecting on his time with the Knicks and ESPN, and more.

Now that you’re several months in and you’ve gotten to be close to it, how are you evaluating things? Or are you still in that evaluation phase?

I’m definitely still in the evaluation stage, but I obviously have a little more information now because we’ve gone through complete change from training camp to going through 30 games now. The unfortunate thing is that we haven’t been healthy all the year either. I don’t want to say that as an excuse. It’s just a fact. We have yet to play one game with our projected side to start the lineup this season. So, to really know for sure…

Now again, that doesn’t mean we haven’t got a chance to see guys. And the biggest thing for me this [season], and it’s been spotty to this point, is trying to establish an identity of who we going to be. And that starts first and foremost, playing hard, competing and then playing together. Now over the last week and a half or so, we’re starting to get a little consistency with the play hard part, which is encouraging. So, hopefully we will continue that through the remainder of the season.

I can live with whatever results if we compete, fighting every step of the way whether we’re shorthanded or not. With our younger players, they are getting a chance to grow in some part due to some of the injuries. So that’s been a positive. Getting to watch the growth of a guy like Max [Raynaud] and Nique Clifford. Dylan Cardwell, who’s on a two-way contract for us, who’s been playing with us a little bit late. So, I’m encouraged by that, but that’s looking out more into the future…

And so, what I like about them, all of them are very hard workers. Very good basketball IQs. And they compete.

On Jan. 15, players who signed contracts during the offseason are eligible to be traded. With a team that is struggling, teams can be looking at a team like yours to maybe wheel and deal. What is your mentality with that?

My mentality is the same it has always been since I’ve been in the league: to be really honest with you. I’m always going to work the phones. I’m always going try to figure out how we can improve the team, both short and long term, if possible. But I want to be prudent and opportunistic in doing that. I’m not somebody who does things out of panic. So, it’s got to make sense for us. So, we’ll see.

But obviously we know we’re far from a finished product, so we’ve got to be open to getting better. And this is one of the vehicles that you have at your disposal in trying to get better. It’s seeing that there’s a trade that makes sense and fits for not only you, but it’s got to fit for the other team or teams that you’re involved with.

Would it be safe to say that you’re not looking for some quick fix?

It’s safe to say we want to build. That’s right. I think when I use words like prudent and opportunistic, a quick fix to me, that’s not sustainable. I was hired to build a sustainable winner. So, I’m sure there’s an anomaly somewhere, but I don’t know of many quote unquote quick fixes that turn into being sustainable. And my vision, which is shared by top to bottom ownership and everybody in the building, is to build a sustainable winner. I think that takes a little more time than quick fixes. You got to make appropriate decisions in that at least give you the best chance to lay a foundation to grow into something that’s sustainable. And so that’s what we’re at…

What is a quick fix? It’s probably for that season or maybe one other season. But hopefully, my goal and vision is to get to the point that once you become a playoff team you can stay there for a while. And that’s when you get your chance to sustain it.

How hard is that to be patient? This is the only show in town. They were a couple of years removed from going to the playoffs.

You fight human nature. Look, we all want to win. As I say that, if we string off a whole bunch of wins this [season], that’s great. I’m not sitting here saying that we’re trying to lose games or want to lose games this [season]. I’m hoping we can catch fire somewhere along the way to get better and improve our position in the standings. The competitor you always wants to win games. The day that I feel, or for that matter, anybody feels comfortable or good in losing, I think you’re in the wrong position in the wrong game.

How would you describe your relationship with Kings owner Vivek Ranadive?

Very good. We’re aligned in a lot of ways. Nobody wants to win more than he and I. But we’re aligned in the vision to build something sustainable and that will more than likely take time. And I’m not here to put a time frame on it per se. Obviously, a lot of people want things sooner rather than later. But we are not going to skip steps to get there. We’re going to work extremely hard to get there as fast as we can.

How do you keep a positive outlook?

A lot of that goes back really to my upbringing. And I know I talked to you a lot about my father and the impact and influence he had on me. And one of the things I learned at an early age is really never to get too high and never get too low. So, when you’re going through the greatest of times you’re winning and everything seems like it’s perfect, if you’re riding that high, you’re really setting yourself up for an eventual fall. Same as if you’re not winning and struggling and things aren’t going well, you get too low, you don’t give yourself a chance to get out of that.

Each day presents a new opportunity to be good and be successful. So, no matter what happened yesterday, we can’t change yesterday. We can’t change last week. We can’t change last month. But we can change what’s going on today and then impact what’s happening tomorrow. I made that pact with myself a long time ago that I wasn’t going to be this rollercoaster personality.

So, for myself, and then obviously being in a leadership position for this organization, I can’t have people in the hallway saying, ‘He’s down today because they’re on a losing streak’ or ‘He’s up.’ They got to see consistency in my approach. And again, it’s always focusing forward.

What’s your relationship with head coach Doug Christie and what do you want from him?

Very strong relationship with Doug. All I want for Doug, just like any of the players or anybody here, is to just keep getting better every day. This is Doug’s first full year as a full-time head coach. Doug is a real passionate individual about this game, about life. You’re talking about attitude. No matter what’s happening, Doug was an intense competitor as a player, and he had some of those same qualities as a coach. Nobody takes losses harder than him, but he comes back in here the next morning uplifted, positive, ‘Okay, how do I get better?’

He’s constantly seeking knowledge, constantly trying to figure out how he can be better and deliver his message better to the group. That ultimately will help us be more successful on the court. So, I love his approach. Again, he’s in a learning stage, just like our younger players that I mentioned before. But because he thirsts for knowledge and he’s not a guy that thinks he has all the answers, he can be successful and really find a stride here. And I believe he will be a guy that can help us turn the corner and be a part of building that sustainable winning.

How did you convince B.J. Armstrong to go from being an NBA agent to joining your staff as assistant general manager?

You are looking at a 40-year relationship there. So, BJ and I, whether he was an agent, player, front office executive, whether I was in the front office or working at ESPN, we have a long-standing friendship and relationship that while basketball brought us together, so much more grew from that.

You want people that you can trust, people that are very knowledgeable and maybe know some things better than you know. I’m not afraid to have that. So, B.J. had, as we all know, a very successful career as a player, a three-time world champion. The fact that he was an agent for so long as well, brings that perspective into the front office as well. He checks all of the basketball ecosystem boxes and brings it in here. And he has a personality that really meshed well with the entire front office. If you talk to people up and down our front office and on the coaching staff, they would all tell you how much they enjoy having him around and how much they respect what he sees in his knowledge of the game. So, that’s extremely helpful to me.

When you have vets that are either respected players in their prime or in their twilight, they’re probably looking at the situation like, “Is this best for me? Is somewhere different or better?” What is your message to some of the veteran players?

Our vets, their approach has been good with us and we have been appreciative. I’ll start with Russell Westbrook, who came in here latest, but we all know is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. And when I talk about establishing organizational pillars – not style of play, but organizational pillars, those six things that you see up there that I’ve talked about, competitive, tough, team oriented, accountable, professional, disciplined – Russell Westbrook has been that throughout his career. That example for all the players in the locker room was important – for the younger guys to see this guy ain’t here playing for the money, he here for the love of the competition and he wanted to be here. That’s been clear every day: regardless of where the record sits right now, Russ wants to be here. He’s invested and he believes that he can help this group turn the corner. That’s what you love about him.

DeMar DeRozan – he’s professional, man. He’s professional personified. This is how he approaches what he does. Just this season, he’s moved up I believe two spots to hold the No. 23 spot of all-time in terms of scoring. And you can see why: the guy still comes back in at night to work on his craft. He pours knowledge into the younger players, which I like to see. I’m sure if you asked him would he like to win more games at this stage, yeah. Is he trying to win more games? Yeah, he’s going to try every time he hits the floor.

He believes that for a lot of reasons we probably could have won more games than what we have right now. That keeps fueling this fire that it’s an 82-game season and yeah we’re over a third of the way there but things can change as well, too. I talked about the injuries of the team, but I think if you examine our schedule, for the first 25 games we had the toughest schedule in the entire league. So, he’s been good in that way as a veteran player.

Unfortunately, [Domantas] Sabonis, another veteran player, has missed a lot of time this year. Just as I thought he was starting to gain some sort of rhythm to his game, now he’s out again. But again, hard worker with his approach and mindset.

I spent a lot of time with Zach [LaVine] in the offseason. You talk about professional, another guy that works at this game, comes in here at night like DeMar. We all know that Zach is a guy who really scores the basketball. He’s shown that as DeMar has throughout his career. The challenge for him and DeMar is, can we get better defensively? From a mental standpoint, they all bought in to getting that effort and trying. Unfortunately, we didn’t win enough games there in the beginning, but he’s still plugged in.

They haven’t come in here and complained one bit about anything. They’re competitors and do they want to win? Yes. But I think they all realized that it starts with them. They got to do a little bit more to help make that a reality. I’ve enjoyed working with those vets. There’s a certain amount of pride I think that all those guys have in terms of wanting to perform well. And winning validates everything. So, when you’re not winning, it doesn’t validate you in the short term, but they all have been in the league long enough to know that if you can just get over the hump, take a stand and some of those close games that you’re losing can turn into wins. But they all have been positive guys to work with. I’ve enjoyed getting know them all and so appreciated what they’ve done so far.

What made you confident in signing Keegan Murray to a long-term contract?

Another tremendously hard worker, high character guy. In this league, you can’t have too many 6-8, 6-9 versatile players. The guy has shot the 3-point ball at a high clip since coming to the league, even though his numbers are down this year. He missed the first month of the season and is taking a little while to get his rhythm back, too. We’re matching him up with everybody on the other end, but that’s a tribute to his defensive versatility. So, here’s a guy that we put on point guards and we put on centers and all positions in between and he doesn’t flinch. He takes on those assignments. That’s invaluable.

When you talk about build a team, he’s young, he’s 25 years old. So now we’re coming into the window of hopefully what’s going to be the prime of his career. I see him as being a very important part of establishing that sustainable winning. You need high character, versatile two-way players – as many as you can get. He was here and he liked it here and it’s been good to work with him.

When you guys had a Kings fan yelling at Zach that caused a commotion in the game, how did you take that? Did you even talk to that fan?

No. Obviously, I’ve been a part of some organizations with some extremely passionate fan bases, My hometown Detroit is really good and they have fans that would express their displeasure from time to time. too. So, that’s not new to me. You know that is a big part of New York. I embrace that part of the job. The people that care so much. The problem comes when if you got a fan base that doesn’t care, and that’s what we don’t want.

As long as they’re not doing anything that’s detrimental to the health and safety of anybody. But wishing the best for the team, wanting the team to do well, unhappy if they’re not performing or whatever, I think that’s part of it. We all signed up for that. But players first and foremost, because those are the performers out there on the court.

From your time in the media with ESPN between the Knicks and Kings job, what did you learn that is perhaps helping you understand of reporting or social media? Does that experience help your job in any way?

Oh yeah, it helped me a lot in a number of ways, not that. I always respected your industry of journalism. My mom was a journalism teacher of 18 years in Detroit Public Schools. So, the whole industry of reporting and writing, I’ve always had respect for. What I learned though, especially doing television, is I knew narratives could be shaped. But just to watch how they really come together, the different storylines and just learning the amount of hard work that goes into that, you always got to be prepared. Then you start doing a lot of live television. That’s not as easy as it looks, but I enjoyed it. I got a chance to do a handful of shows with you, which I enjoyed. I enjoyed working with Malika [Andrews] and Big Perk [Kendrick Perkins] and Chiney [Ogwumike], Richard Jefferson and a number of the people I got a chance to work with on the “NBA Today,” and then just a lot of the great anchors on “SportsCenter,” getting to meet them and just really gaining a great appreciation for what you do.

It can be a big mental grind, but I think it’s helped me a ton just understanding that and being able to digest all the different storylines that come at me and understand ‘Okay, I know how they got here” or I can see where this particular story and narrative is going based on having been part of pre-production meetings and stuff like that.

Why did you go meet with Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin and what was the best thing you learned from him?

I go back with Mike Tomlin 15 years ago. And with my history with Pittsburgh with my father [a former assistant] coach, he and I got put together though by one of his former players who just said, ‘Hey, I think you guys could get along with one another because there’s some similarities there.’ Lamar Woodley played for Michigan and I coached at Michigan. And so ever since then, I went to visit Mike and started to build a relationship with him and going to the training camp or games at least once a year.

[Tomlin], in my opinion, and this has really nothing to do with my affinity for the Steelers, but just watching him and being around, he’s one of the best leaders of men that I’ve seen, regardless of the sport. You can name the sport and you can put him in that mix just to watch how he manages so many people. And I’m not just talking about the players, which he does an excellent job of that, but coaching staffs, medical staffs and working with front office and all that. So, there’s a lot to be gleaned and learned. We share a lot of back and forth. There are obviously stark differences between the two sports, but there’s some commonality there in terms of the management of the people.

All you’re really trying to do at its core is trying to get a whole group of people to put aside some of their selfish desire for the collective. And in doing that, subsequently it converts to wins. The ultimate goal is winning. We’re in the business of winning. I learned a lot from him. We went this past year, I was able to take B.J. for the first time, and I thought it was important to take Doug Christie, because he’s embarked upon his first year as a head coach, and Mike’s now been at it 19 years. Their back and forth was invaluable for Doug to see that. We had a terrific time there for three days, and so that’s always one of the highlights for me during the offseason when I do get an opportunity to make it there is just to spend time with quality people and exchange a lot of ideas that can help us vote in our respective positions.

Your first stint with the Kings was so short that you didn’t even get to move into your house in Sacramento before you left for New York. Have you been able to get to know Sacramento better this second time around?

Not a ton yet. I will probably more this offseason. The first three months here I was living across the street. So, that was the community, walking across the street, here 12 to 15 hours a day, eating here locally. Whatever I could walk to basically I was doing. But we moved out into a home. Last time we bought the house and never moved into it. Had to turn around and sell it. Now we did buy the house and now we’re living in the home.

So, we’ve enjoyed that part and have been getting to meet a few people out in the neighborhood that we live in. So, that’s been good. Kim is enjoying it. We like it thus far. And when these games start coming, it comes at you quick. I don’t rest. And when you have so much going and know where you’re trying to get, you got so many steps to get there. So, it’s hard for me to turn off some time and really step back and make me enjoy the area. But I got to get to Napa.

What’s your message to the fans right now?

Stay with us. We’re going to get it done. I know it’s difficult. I empathize with the fans in terms of they’ve been wanting to win here for a long time. And it’s essentially, one playoff berth [since 2007]. So, I understand the frustration, I understand that. But this is really the first time that someone, I believe, is taking the time to really build a foundation so that when you come out on the other side you got a chance for that sustainable winning so you’re not just in one year and then back five years later or whatever the case may be.

I’m a veteran in this business. And I’ve seen the league from all levels. I was fortunate enough to be the champion when I was in Detroit working in the front office. I learned a ton there and we were good for almost a decade. And I’ve been in situations where you had to build and struggle and you lost some games early, but again, come out on the other side.

When you reflect on the Knicks and what they’ve been doing, they won NBA Cup, do you find any satisfaction of having a role in it? Is there anything you learned in New York that can help you in Sacramento?

When I first went to New York in ’17, they weren’t in the playoffs. They hadn’t won a ton. But we were there doing a lot of heavy lifting at the time, having to change over the roster and draft. I always look at it this way. When you go in the situation, is the place a better place from the time you started from the time you left. And factually, that’s the case with me in New York, from when I started, where the team was in terms of their record and when I left. Now, obviously they’ve gone on now and they’ve taken the next couple of steps but I do take pride in making a lot of the tough decisions and things you got to do to help turn a situation around. I take great pride in that.

As I examine my career and places I’ve been a part of, I don’t think I’ve ever started in a situation where the team was winning a lot. It’s always been at some point you got to turn it. Now some have turned out better than others. But that’s been a lot of my career path: How can you make something better? How can you improve upon something? Every situation, just like life, do you look at the situations as cup half empty or cup half full? Everywhere I’ve been, I always look at it cup half full. Taking that mindset wherever you’re at, including here in Sacramento, that’s what gives me confidence that we’ll get this thing headed in the right direction. Just hang tight.

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