Saagar Sarin leaving Minnesota Timberwolves for scouting job with Sacramento Kings

The Kings appear to have finalized their roster for training camp, but general manager Monte McNair is making an addition to his basketball operations staff.

McNair confirmed Friday the Kings are hiring Saagar Sarin as a scout. Sarin spent the past two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves as a scouting coordinator. He previously worked with McNair when they were with the Houston Rockets.

Sources told The Sacramento Bee the Kings had been talking to Sarin for some time. His departure from Minnesota is unrelated to the fallout surrounding former team president Gersson Rosas, who was fired on Wednesday amid reports of a toxic work environment and an extramarital relationship with a staffer, sources said.

Sarin was first linked to the Kings on Wednesday in the hours after the Timberwolves fired Rosas. Darren Wolfson of KSTP-TV in Minneapolis reported Sarin was expected to take a job with the Kings.

“Another Timbewolves note gleaned from this crazy day: Highly regarded personnel scouting coordinator Saagar Sarin is expected to take a job with the Kings,” Wolfson tweeted. “... I hear Sarin is super sharp, very bright future.”

Sources said the Kings were working toward a deal with Sarin on Thursday. McNair confirmed Friday that Sarin will join Sacramento’s scouting department.

Sarin attended high school in San Jose and went on to USC, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a double minor in statistics and sports media studies in 2016. He completed his master’s degree in business analytics in 2018.

Sarin came to the NBA as a basketball operations and scouting intern with the Rockets in 2017, joining a staff that included McNair and Sachin Gupta, who is now with the Timberwolves. Sarin was promoted to assistant video coordinator in July 2017. He was named video coordinator and player personnel assistant in September 2018.

Sarin left Houston to join the Timberwolves as personnel scouting coordinator in July 2019, two months after Minnesota hired Gupta as vice president of basketball operations. Gupta and McNair were both finalists for the general manager job in Sacramento before the Kings hired McNair in September 2020.

The Timberwolves promoted Gupta to president of basketball operations when Rosas was fired Wednesday. Gupta will lead the team while the Timberwolves conduct a broad search for a permanent replacement.