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What is the long-term strategy for the Sacramento Kings? What are the goals of the team's front office? Who is leading the management team and shaping the direction of the franchise?

Like most Sacramento fans, De'Aaron Fox wanted answers to those questions. He loved the city and its rabid fan base, but wanted stability in the organization. He wanted a plan that would move the Kings up the ladder in the West. The surprise mid-season firing of Mike Brown — Fox's guy — and the hiring of Doug Christie to replace him ended Fox's hope he would see that.

That firing of Brown solidified Fox's idea that it was better for him to spend the prime of his career elsewhere — and now Domantas Sabonis wants clarification on the franchise's future, too.

All that according to Sam Amick and Anthony Slater at The Athletic

, who have a must-read story on the Kings on the night Fox returns to Sacramento. It starts with new coach Christie calling Fox's agent Rich Paul to get a sense of his star's plans, especially after an 11-4 start for Christie (the team is 8-7 sense).

The temporary bump up the standings hadn’t masked Fox’s unflattering view of the organization’s culture under owner Vivek Ranadivé. And Christie's elevation above the hastily fired Mike Brown, Fox's preferred head coach, was merely the latest and loudest reminder of that reality.

So Paul, according to league sources, informed Christie that the path ahead remained unchanged. If anything, Fox was only firmer in the belief that his prime seasons were better spent elsewhere. This wasn't a trade request, but a transparent assessment of the state of the franchise and a confirmation that the time had come for both sides to plot an exit.

As for Sabonis, he's in the mental space Fox was a year ago.

League sources said Sabonis, who has three more seasons and a combined $140.3 million left on his current deal, is expected to seek clarity about the organization's plan in the offseason. Just as Fox wanted to know whose voice mattered most on key decisions, and who the team's owner might be trusting the most as counsel, Sabonis is known to have similar questions.

Another source summed it up for The Athletic.

"What is the vision here?" one league source close to a core Kings player said. "It feels like it could be headed toward chaos."

Sometimes, one of the worst things that can happen to a franchise is out-of-the-blue success — franchises don't handle it well and think it is the new normal rather than a run of good luck. The 2022-23 Kings winning 48 games and finishing as the No. 3 seed — snapping a 16-year playoff draught while "light the beam" chants ran out — was one of the great stories of that season. It also overstated just how good the Kings were. They took a step back to 46 wins last season and didn't make it out of the play-in, and are headed for the play-in again this season. Those steps back cost Brown his job.

Teams should not fire coaches without someone better on deck, and/or a clear plan to follow on what they are trying to build. From the outside, Sacramento has neither of those. Fox was tired of not having one voice, one clear plan — something his new team in San Antonio unquestionably has — and was going to move on, one way or another.

The question now becomes whether the Kings can find a voice and a plan or if Sabonis is going to start trying to push his way out.