The Sacramento Kings introduce their 2025 NBA draft selections, Maxime Raynaud and Nique Clifford, during a news conference at Golden 1 Center on July 3, 2025. By Paul Kitagaki Jr.
Five years have past since former Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear was unceremoniously removed from Sacramento’s airwaves after three decades as a popular television and radio personality.
Napear returned Tuesday when he hosted the first episode of his new radio show on Fox Sports KSAC (104.7 FM/890 AM), which will air Monday through Friday from 3-6 p.m.
Napear, 66, believes he was a victim of cancel culture in 2020 when he lost his television and radio jobs amid allegations of racial insensitivity. The firestorm erupted when Napear tweeted “ALL LIVES MATTER ... EVERY SINGLE ONE” in response to former Kings star DeMarcus Cousins, who asked Napear what he thought about the Black Lives Matter movement days after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police.
Napear was fired by Sports 1140 KHTK – now known as Sactown Sports 1140 – and relieved of his duties as play-by-play announcer on Kings television broadcasts.
“I was canceled, but I am back,” Napear declared at the start of Tuesday’s show.
Napear spent only a few minutes discussing the Kings during his three-hour show, but he said he doesn’t think they will make the playoffs, questioning the age and makeup of the roster. Napear didn’t hold back when a caller asked how long it will take Sacramento to assemble a winning team under new general manager Scott Perry.
“It’s going to be a while,” Naper said. “I’m very concerned about their owner. I think Vivek Ranadive has proven he is not a good owner. He meddles. ... I think Scott Perry has his hands cuffed in many of the things he’s trying to do the same way Monte McNair had his hands cuffed, the same way Vlade Divac had his hands cuffed. ... Until that changes, I can’t really put a lot of faith into the Sacramento Kings and their fortunes.”
Grant Napear Sacramento Bee file
Napear moved to Miami and launched a podcast after leaving Sacramento. He filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Bonneville International Corp., the parent company of KHTK, but a federal court in Sacramento dismissed the case in April. The judge ruled it would be unconstitutional to apply California labor laws protecting the political rights of employees to Bonneville’s decision to fire Napear, according to previous reporting by The Sacramento Bee.
The controversy came at an especially sensitive time after Floyd’s death led to riots and other forms of civil unrest as demonstrators protested against police brutality and racial injustice.
Napear said he was a victim of cancel culture during a recent interview with ABC 10’s Walt Gray. When asked if he had any hard feelings, Napear cited a quote from Martin Luther King Jr.
“In the end, we remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends,” Napear said. “Sometimes you don’t know who your friends are. I now know who my friends are.”
Napear added: ” I don’t think I didn’t anything wrong, I said all lives matter, every single one.”
Napear, who is known for “Grant’s rants” and heated exchanges with callers, might be more polarizing than ever among Kings fans, but he still has a legion of fans in Sacramento. One caller said “a very big wrong has been righted” with Napear’s return to Sacramento radio.
Napear referred to “all the garbage out there” while taking aim at his competition in Sacramento as he goes head-to-head with afternoon radio shows on Sports 1140 and ESPN 1320.
“I came back to win,” Napear said. “I came back to dominate the market.”