Vlade Divac confirms he told Kings owners to stop meddling

The Sacramento Kings are finally showing a pulse after more than a decade of missing out on the postseason, and general manager Vlade Divac wants the team’s ownership group to stand down and let him continue on his current path.

According to a report from Sam Amick of The Athletic, Divac held a conference call with 13 members of the Kings’ executive board on Monday to urge them to stop meddling and leaking stories to the media about in-house issues. Majority owner and chairman Vivek Ranadive was among those who took part in the call, which sounds like it was designed for Divac to essentially say “leave me alone.”

With the Kings 23-21 (they were 22-21 at the time of the call), now seems like a good time for Divac to stand up to his bosses. Perhaps the most surprising part of the story is that he confirmed Amick’s report following Monday night’s win over the Portland Trail Blazers.

I asked Vlade Divac about The Athletic story tonight regarding his conference call with minority owners. “I just told them about my plan,” he said. The story says you told them to stop meddling and leaking stories. “Yeah, that’s my plan,” he said.

— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) January 15, 2019

Divac has long been criticized for the roster moves he has made with a team that has not reached the playoffs since 2006. He has traded several star players, and he said nearly two years ago that he would step down in two years if the DeMarcus Cousins trade did not work out. It’s still too early to tell if it did, but it looks like the Kings have their best team in over a decade. If Divac has to flex his muscles, now is the time to do it.