Report: Kings plan to interview Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair

With the NBA’s longest streak of consecutive playoff appearances, other franchises would understandably like to emulate Houston’s success.

Houston Rockets assistant GM Monte McNair is among six NBA team executives that the Sacramento Kings are planning to interview as they search for their next head of basketball operations. The news was first reported by Shams Charania and Sam Amick of The Athletic.

As a longtime member of GM Daryl Morey‘s staff, McNair originally joined the Rockets as an analyst in 2007. From there, he became director of basketball operations in 2013; vice president of basketball operations in 2015; and his current role as assistant GM in 2018.

“Monte has been absolutely critical to the success of the Rockets over his long tenure,” Morey said in October 2018. “His unique combination of analytical skills and ability to work with our coaching staff was a key driver in our record breaking season last year.”

In that 2018 press release, here’s how the Rockets described his role:

In addition to managing the analytic efforts of the Rockets basketball operations department, McNair is involved with all avenues of player evaluation, including trade, free agency, and the draft. Over the past four seasons, McNair has worked closely with the coaching staff to provide on-court strategy and analysis along with opponent preparation.

A native of Oak Park, California, outside of Los Angeles, McNair played football at Princeton University, where he majored in computer science.  Prior to joining the Rockets, McNair worked as a researcher at STATS LLC.

If offered the job, the Sacramento position would clearly be a promotion, since it represents the lead decision-making role within basketball operations. In Houston, that position has belonged to Morey for 13 years.

With the NBA’s longest streak of consecutive playoff appearances (eight years), other franchises are naturally hoping to emulate Houston’s success. In May 2019, Minnesota hired longtime Rockets executive Gersson Rosas as its president of basketball operations. A year earlier, Philadelphia tried to lure Morey away, though he opted to stay put.

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