Photo by Louis Waweru
Kenny Thomas’ career, just like the Sacramento Kings, has been declining rapidly ever since Rick Adelman left the kingdom. Despite being the Kings best rebounder and post-defender, Thomas is anchored at the end of the bench, except during road trips. Then he just stays home.
Team officials recently decided that the aging veteran was a negative influence on the youngsters and deleted him from the traveling squad. So what exactly did Thomas do to tick off his bosses besides gain 10 to 15 unwanted pounds?
“I don’t know,” said Thomas, who was acquired from Philadelphia four years ago in the Chris Webber trade. “I DON’T know. I wish I could tell you. I don’t have any answers. It’s on them (the Kings). I’ve got one year left on my contract. They’ve got to move me. Why would I want to stay here? I played well in Houston, played well for Larry Brown in Philly. I’ve just accepted it. I’ll get on with my career when I get out of here.”
“Kenny’s in a tough spot,” Kings’ President Geoff Petrie said Friday. “I just think … the team moved along. There were other players the coaches felt were going to be more productive. He never got the playing time here that he got earlier. It never changed from there, from Eric (Musselman) to Reggie (Theus) to Kenny (Natt). The team is off in a different direction. It was not like something happened.”