Could Monte McNair join former co-worker Daryl Morey with the Sixers?
The 2024-25 NBA regular season is over, the Play-In Tournament is underway, and the playoffs loom this weekend. Believe it or not, the Philadelphia 76ers were not the only organization dissatisfied with how the season went. After losing the 9-vs-10 Play-In Tournament game to the Dallas Mavericks Wednesday night, the Sacramento Kings parted ways with general manager Monte McNair.
Per reporting from Sam Amick and Anthony Slater for The Athletic, McNair is someone who could be in the Sixers’ future:
“League sources say McNair, who spent 13 years in Houston before joining the Kings, could return to the Rockets in a front office role with general manager, and close friend and former co-worker, Rafael Stone. He also has close ties and possible prospects in Philadelphia, where former Rockets president of basketball operations Daryl Morey runs the Sixers front office.”
While Daryl Morey went on the record during end-of-season availability stating he and head coach Nick Nurse would be returning, we did hear recently from Michael Scotto at HoopsHype to expect some new faces among the coaching staff:
“While Daryl Morey publicly stated he and coach Nick Nurse are both returning to Philadelphia next season, there’s an expectation that Nurse’s assistant coaching staff will see changes this offseason, league sources told HoopsHype.”
Certainly, that same ‘we need to change things up at least a little bit’ mentality would extend to the front office, which brings us back to McNair. Just two years ago, McNair won NBA Executive of the Year after the Kings made the playoffs for the first time since the 2005-06 season. One of his first moves was drafting Tyrese Haliburton at 12th overall, a home run of a value. The following year, however, he would draft Davion Mitchell with the ninth overall pick, who later wound up being traded away with draft capital as a salary dump.
Sacramento later traded Haliburton to Indiana for Domantas Sabonis and then De’Aaron Fox this past trade deadline to San Antonio as part of a three-team deal. Charitably, we could stretch and call these ‘win-win’ deals, but I think more people would side with Sacramento’s trading partners getting the better end of things. Regardless, the Kings look to be spinning their wheels and are much further away from contention than they were a few years ago.
Still, as a long-time, respected executive, bringing McNair into the Sixers organization in a less high-profile role could certainly pay dividends. I’d be in on a buy low of Keegan Murray if McNair could open up that avenue of communications. We’ll see if anything comes of this reporting nugget in the coming weeks this offseason.