LAS VEGAS — How did Willie Cauley-Stein end up in this situation? How did he go from the perfect center for how the Kings want to play to a member of the Golden State Warriors?



“Shoot, I don’t know,” Cauley-Stein told The Athletic after his first media session as a Warrior on Monday night at Thomas & Mack Center. “I never was told different until the end, you know what I’m saying? So all the way up until the end, I’m thinking I’m going to be a King. Up until the last couple of days (before free agency began), literally, I thought I was still going to be a King. I never even got told anything. Never got a call.”



In retrospect, Cauley-Stein shouldn’t be surprised his time with the Kings came to an end. There were signs along the way that the organization and even the fan base were ready for him to be gone.



During the previous two seasons, Cauley-Stein’s artistic side was displayed by the...