Kings Tried Forcing Malone to Play Royce White

Michael Malone had been pining for a backup point guard, but Sacramento Kings management had a different idea for their coach a year ago: Royce White. Here was the beginning of the end for this doomed partnership, a disagreement that widened the gulf between them.

White was out of shape, had no interest in playing basketball – which had been clear when the Houston Rockets released him. He had been awful in the Development League, a malingerer, and done nothing to deserve a call-up to the Kings.

“Pretty soon, they’re telling [Malone]: Why aren’t you putting him in the games?” one organizational source told Yahoo Sports. “That’s when it really started to get bad between him and the guys upstairs.”

via Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports