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A Twitter photo might have leaked insider information about the Sacramento Kings

Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac is happy to show you his dry-erase board. (Twitter)
Sacramento Kings general manager Vlade Divac is happy to show you his dry-erase board. (Twitter)

In their battle for NBA inferiority, the Sacramento Kings are not about to let their perennial lottery brothers in arms on the Orlando Magic lead the league in leaked front-office insider information.

More than a year after erstwhile Magic wing Patricio Garino’s agent tweeted a photo of his client signing a contract in front of the team’s list of potential free agency and trade targets — an error in judgment that should have ended the practice of players posing for pictures in front of dry-erase boards league-wide — the Kings failed to learn from this very important NBA social media lesson.

UC Santa Barbara coach Joe Pasternack posted a photo of former Gauchos player Gabe Vincent signing an Exhibition 10 deal with the Kings in Divac’s office, naturally revealing a detailed dry-erase board.

The photo appears to show Sacramento’s draft board

You’ll notice in blue marker above Divac’s head is what appears to be the GM’s 2018 draft board:

This sure looks like Sacramento Kings GM Vlade Divac’s 2018 NBA draft board. (Twitter)
This sure looks like Sacramento Kings GM Vlade Divac’s 2018 NBA draft board. (Twitter)

In order are listed: Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley, Luka Doncic, Michael Porter, Mo Bamba and either Mikal or Miles Bridges. The Phoenix Suns selected Ayton first overall in June’s draft, the Kings took Bagley second, and the Dallas Mavericks traded up to take Doncic third. Porter dropped to 14th in the draft amid concerns about an injured back that could cost him the entirety of the 2018-19 season. The Orlando Magic grabbed Bamba sixth, and the two unrelated Bridges went 10th and 12th, respectively.

If indeed these are actually the team’s prospect rankings, the Kings are fortunate that it leaked four months after the draft, which raises questions about how much dry-erase board work Divac has been doing in the offseason. It also would signal to Bagley that he was Sacramento’s second choice and give opposing teams a window into how the Kings value this crop of rookies, including Porter.

There’s always a chance that Divac intentionally listed those names just before this picture was taken as an inside joke to leave us all speculating, but the team’s personnel decisions since he assumed the GM reins in the summer of 2015 are a strong argument against the Kings using that much forethought.

The picture might also feature a depressing win projection

Below the blue list of names, you can see “29-53” written in black marker:

Is this the Kings’ internal win projection for the 2018-19 season? (Twitter)
Is this the Kings’ internal win projection for the 2018-19 season? (Twitter)

Those two numbers add up to 82, the same number of games in an NBA season. The Kings have not finished with a 29-53 record since 2014-15, the season before Divac took over as GM. Maybe he likes to be reminded of the record upon which he was hired to improve. (The Kings finished 27-55 last season, owners of the NBA’s second-worst record.) Or maybe that is the team’s projected win total for 2018-19, which would come as good news to the Philadelphia 76ers, who own the rights to Sacramento’s first-round draft pick if they finish with the NBA’s worst record, and Boston Celtics, who own it otherwise.

‘The Vladfather’ really did it this time

Divac may have successfully distracted us all by leaking this sweet photo within the photo:

Vlade Divac is “The Vladfather.” (Twitter)
Vlade Divac is “The Vladfather.” (Twitter)

“The Vladfather,” a.k.a. The GM Who Traded The Pick Swap That Became Jayson Tatum And His Unprotected 2019 First-Round Pick To Create Enough Cap Space To Rent Rajon Rondo For A Year.

Way to be, Kings.

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Ben Rohrbach is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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