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."

General manager Pete D'Alessandro had to be the messenger to Malone on several unpopular directives, but there was long a sense he was often carrying out the will of his owner, Vivek Ranadive. Management goes beyond the owner and GM too, including influential consultant Chris Mullin. Too many voices, too little common ground.

D'Alessandro didn't hire Malone, the owner did. The GM hiring came two weeks later in 2013, and that was a rookie mistake for the owner. D'Alessandro and Malone had no history together, no trust and, ultimately, no chance together.

View photos The Kings were 11-13 under Michael Malone this season. (NBAE/Getty Images) More

The Kings fired Malone on Sunday night, a move that inspired disbelief within the Kings locker room and across the NBA.

After Malone's first season, there were discussions about letting him go. Those died down, but it was clear Malone would start this season on notice, and he did. Management didn't believe in Chris Jent as his top assistant, and went out on its own and interviewed two ex-head coaches, Alvin Gentry and Kurt Rambis, for the staff.

Malone suspected they were trying to hire his eventual successor, and pushed to get ex-Utah Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin hired in the job. Corbin's the interim coach now, and had been loyal to the end for Malone.

The front office-coach relationship became increasingly strained through the Las Vegas summer league in July, especially once Ranadive and D'Alessandro made a play to trade for Detroit forward Josh Smith, sources said. The owner told people outside the franchise that, no, his coach didn't want Smith, but Ranadive didn't care. He wanted Smith's talent, and it was on Malone to make it work.

Most of the coaching staff struggled to believe Smith could fit with DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay, and management differed. Talks with the Pistons shut down quickly, because Stan Van Gundy didn't want to make the proposed deals, sources said.

"The Smith situation caused everyone to take sides: Management against coaches, coaches against management," a source told Yahoo Sports. "Things only got worse."

The hard feelings lingered. Malone traveled to the World Cup of Basketball in Spain for a week in August, spending time with Cousins and Gay on Team USA. He had been building closer relationships with them, and part of that translated into a strong training camp and a solid start to the season. Once Cousins went down, the Kings lost seven of nine games to drop to 11-13, and the organization had its chance.

All around the organization, everyone agrees: The Kings were waiting for this opportunity, and pounced with the losing streak. "They should've done this in the summer, and brought in the coach and style that they wanted," one league official close to D'Alessandro and Malone told Yahoo Sports.

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