But. And there is a but.

The data is not kind to Sacramento, and Ranadive is a man who values data to help him avoid failure. The last time the Kings made the playoffs was 2006. Since Ranadive took over the team in 2013, the Kings have gone through four head coaches. There have been notable draft misses, like Nik Stauskas in 2014. Cap space has not yielded much. Ranadive said he expected the Kings to contend for championships within five years from now, but the franchise has not been, at least from the outside, a picture of stability.

They traded away their franchise player in 2017, DeMarcus Cousins, and Vlade Divac, the general manager, told the press that he had passed up a better offer days earlier. (It was an embarrassing headline, to be sure, but the trade still turned out fine for Divac. The Kings netted one of the better shooters in the league, Buddy Hield.)

Last season was a high-water mark: The Kings won 39 games and made a surprising run at the postseason. And yet, right when it seemed like the Kings had established a positive culture, Divac fired the head coach Dave Joerger.

The Kings moved swiftly to replace Joerger with Luke Walton, who had just left the Lakers. Then, news broke that Walton was sued by Kelli Tennant, a former sports broadcaster who accused Walton of sexually assaulting her in a hotel room in 2014, which Walton denied. The team initiated an investigation with outside lawyers and support from the league. In August, the N.B.A. and the Kings jointly announced that the investigation was being closed and that “there was not a sufficient basis to support the allegations.” Tennant declined to speak to the investigators. Ranadive said he was “shocked and surprised” by the lawsuit.

“We took the accusations very seriously,” he said. “We hired some very highly regarded and experienced investigators. My instructions to them is that there were no boundaries. Find everything you can out. There’s no rules.”

Along with being one of the few controlling owners of color in professional sports, Ranadive has set himself apart for his willingness to engage about social justice issues and politics — to an extent.