SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Sacramento Kings and general manager Monte McNair have agreed to part ways, two years after McNair helped end the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
The two sides reached the decision shortly after the Kings’ season ended Wednesday night with a 120-106 loss to Dallas in the play-in tournament and the team announced it on Wednesday.
"I want to sincerely thank Monte for his leadership and the invaluable contributions he made during his time in Sacramento,” owner Vivek Ranadivé said in a statement. “He helped build a strong foundation for continued success here, and we wish him and his family all the best in their future endeavors.”
Ranadivé immediately found a replacement, hiring former New York Knicks general manager Scott Perry for the role, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because a deal hadn't been announced. Perry spent three months in the Kings' front office in 2017 before being hired by the Knicks.
McNair was hired by Sacramento before the start of the 2020-21 season and helped put together the team that ended a 16-season playoff drought in 2023 when it went 48-34 to finish third in the Western Conference. McNair won NBA Executive of the Year in 2022-23.
The Kings lost a first-round series to the Golden State Warriors in seven games that season and weren’t able to make it back to the playoffs the past two seasons, losing in the Play-In Tournament each season.
McNair said in a statement on social media that he was grateful that Ranadivé gave him “the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“The Beam Team brought so much joy to so many,” he said. “Thank you to the players, coaches, and staff who played such a vital role in creating those special moments and memories. To the Sacramento community — thank you for welcoming and embracing me and my family. We arrived as a family of four and leave as a family of six. As a California kid, this truly felt like a dream homecoming. To Kings fans — you’re simply the best. I’ll never forget the deafening roar before Game 1 or the countless other unforgettable moments we shared. There will be many more beams in the Kings’ future.”
Sacramento won at least 40 games in each of the past three seasons after failing to do that even once in the previous 16 seasons but the Kings weren’t able to take the next step to be a contender in the Western Conference.
This past season was a big step back as the team fired coach Mike Brown in December, traded star De’Aaron Fox to San Antonio in February and finished in ninth place in the conference with a 40-42 record.
It bottomed out with the blowout loss at home to the Mavericks on Wednesday night and then the quick change was made at GM.
The Kings had a 195-205 record with McNair in charge. Under his leadership, Sacramento made a key trade in 2022 to acquire star center Domantas Sabonis from Indiana for Tyrese Haliburton, signed Malik Monk as a free agent, drafted Keegan Murray and made the three-team trade this season that sent Fox to San Antonio and sent Zach LaVine to Sacramento.
Sacramento also must make a decision soon on whether to bring back interim coach Doug Christie, who went 27-24 in the regular season after taking over for Brown.
Christie said before the news about McNair became public that he had been given no indication of his job status.
“But this is where I want to be,” he said. “You guys know that. I need to finish what I started.”
The new general manager will be the fifth lead executive since owner Vivek Ranadive took over the team in 2013. The Kings have gone through nine coaches in that span — including interims — and have the fifth worst record in the NBA.
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
FILE - Sacramento Kings General Manager Monte McNair poses for a photo during the NBA basketball team's media day in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 26, 2022. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — President Donald Trump is set to meet Wednesday with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa, going face-to-face with the onetime insurgent leader who spent years imprisoned by U.S. forces after being captured in Iraq.
The White House said Trump has agreed to “say hello” to al-Sharaa before the U.S. leader wraps up his stay in Saudi Arabia and heads to Qatar, where Trump is to be honored with a state visit. His Mideast tour also will take him to the United Arab Emirates.
Al-Sharaa was named president of Syria in January, a month after a stunning offensive by insurgent groups led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, stormed Damascus and ended the 54-year rule of the Assad family.
Trump said he agreed to meet with al-Sharaa after being encouraged to do so by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The president also pledged to lift yearslong sanctions on Syria.
“There is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace,” Trump said in a wide-ranging foreign policy address Tuesday in which he announced he was lifting the sanctions that have been in place in Syria since 2011. “That’s what we want to see in Syria.”
Formerly known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Golani, al-Sharaa joined the ranks of al-Qaida insurgents battling U.S. forces in Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion and still faces a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges in Iraq. The U.S. once offered $10 million for information about his whereabouts because of his links to al-Qaida.
Al-Sharaa came back to his home country of Syria after the conflict began in 2011 and led al-Qaida’s branch that used to be known as the Nusra Front. He later changed the name of his group to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and cut links with al-Qaida.
The sanctions go back to the rule of Bashar Assad, who was ousted in December, and were intended to inflict major pain on his economy.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations had left the sanctions in place after Assad’s fall as they sought to take the measure of al-Sharaa, who has renounced his past affiliation with al-Qaida.
Trump is also set to attend a meeting Wednesday of the Gulf Cooperation Council, made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, before setting off for Qatar, the second stop in his Mideast tour.
Qatar, like the other Gulf Arab states, is an autocratic nation where political parties are banned and speech is tightly controlled. It is overseen by its ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Sheikh Tamim, 44, took power in June 2013 when his father stepped down.
Oil exports in Qatar began after World War II, though it would take until 1997 before Qatar began shipping out liquefied natural gas to the world.
That brought unfathomable wealth — and new influence — to this small nation that sticks out like a thumb into the Persian Gulf. Qatar founded the satellite news network Al Jazeera, which brought an Arab perspective to mass media that helped fuel the 2011 Arab Spring protests. The network also became famous for running statements from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Qatar has also played a central role in pay-to-play-style scandals around the globe.
In Israel, authorities are investigating allegations that Qatar hired close advisers to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch PR campaigns to improve the Gulf nation’s image among Israelis.
Two European Union lawmakers found themselves accused of taking money from Doha in a scandal dubbed “Qatar-gate.” U.S. prosecutors in 2020 accused Qatar of bribing FIFA executive committee members to secure the tournament in the country in 2022.
In 2024, RTX Corporation, the defense contractor formerly known as Raytheon, agreed to pay more than $950 million to resolve allegations that it defrauded the U.S. government and paid bribes to secure business with Qatar. Doha always has denied wrongdoing and sponsors an annual anti-corruption prize.
Qatar follows an ultraconservative form of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism born out of Saudi Arabia. However, Qatar struck a different tack in the Arab Spring by backing Islamists, including Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, as well as those who rose up against Assad.
Its support of Islamists, in part, led to a yearslong boycott of the country by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. That boycott only ended as then-President Joe Biden prepared to enter the White House in 2021.
Qatar also has served as a key mediator, particularly with the militant group Hamas as the international community pursues a ceasefire for the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Qatar also served as host of the negotiations between the United States and the Taliban that led to America’s 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Qatar is home to Al-Udeid Air Base, a sprawling facility that hosts the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command.
The oil-rich country is also in the center of a controversy over its offer to provide Trump with the gift of a luxury Boeing 747-8 that the U.S. could use as Air Force One while new versions of the plane are under construction by Boeing.
The Qatari government has said a final decision hasn’t been made. But Trump has defended the idea as a fiscally smart move for the U.S., even as critics argue it would amount to a president accepting an astonishingly valuable gift from a foreign government.
Trump has indicated he would refurbish the aircraft and it would later be donated to his post-White House presidential library. He says he would not use the plane once he leaves office.
The president, early Wednesday in a social media post, said the plane “is a gift from a Nation, Qatar, that we have successfully defended for many years.”
“Why should our military, and therefore our taxpayers, be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE from a country that wants to reward us for a job well done,” Trump added. “This big savings will be spent, instead, to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! Only a FOOL would not accept this gift on behalf of our Country.”
Syrians celebrate after U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to ease sanctions on Syria and move toward normalizing relations with its new government to give the country 'a chance at peace,' in Idlib, Syria, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via AP)
President Donald Trump salutes as he greets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman delegations at the Royal Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
