By Mardeio Cannon | OBSERVER Columnist

Even with his many years in management roles with several NBA teams, Scott Perry has an enormous task ahead of him.

As he delves into his new job, the Kings’ general manager is charged with making the key decisions to return Sacramento to consistent playoff contention in the always very tough and competitive Western Conference. One area of fans’ concern is whether Perry will have 100% decisionmaking authority without input from Kings Chairman Vivek Ranadive. The Kings’ majority owner has been the subject of many unflattering stories throughout his tenure for meddling in front-office decisions. If the Kings are to become relevant again, Mr. Vivek Ranadive must trust basketball personnel 100% with basketball decisions.

One of Perry’s first decisions was to remove the “interim” tag from former fan favorite player Doug Christie as head coach. That’s not enough to wipe away the stain of a disappointing 2024-25, a season in which the Kings fired Coach Mike Brown, who had led them out of the wilderness and into the playoffs as a No. 3 seed two seasons ago, and traded their brightest star and franchise player, De’Aaron Fox, to the San Antonio Spurs as he enters his prime.

These are some of the key decisions Perry must make to revitalize the Kings:

Decide whether Zach Levine and DeMar DeRozan can coexist as the primary scorers. The two had limited success in their tenure as teammates from 2021 to 2024 with the Chicago Bulls.

Fill the Kings’ need at point guard via trade or free agency.

Decide whether to sign Keegan Murray to an extension.

Find a creative way to sign last year’s trade acquisition and fan favorite and quality player Jake LaRavia to a contract for next season.

Decide whether to re-sign free agent Trey Lyles.

No-brainer: Re-sign guard Keon Ellis.

Last but certainly not least, make good decisions in the upcoming NBA draft, even though the Kings have only a second-round pick, 42nd overall. The damage has been done by the previous general manager, and a turnaround will not happen overnight. However, good decisions and a little luck can point this franchise in the right direction.

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