King Thought Sixers Were On Board With Rebuilding

With an unexpected free night on his schedule, the unemployed Billy King decided it might be nice to take his pregnant wife to a movie.

A nice date night for a man who now considers his full-time job as stay-at-home family man.

Maybe the film will have a happier ending than his time as President and General Manager of the Philadelphia 76ers.

King acknowledged on Wednesday he was surprised he was fired in the final year of his contract after 10 years of running a franchise that has bottomed out since a trip to the NBA Finals in 2001.

King was led to believe management firmly backed his idea of a three-year rebuilding plan that he thought would build the Sixers into a contender in the Eastern Conference. Instead, Chairman Ed Snider delivered the surprising news to King before Monday's game that he was out and New Jersey GM Ed Stefanski was taking over.

"The timing of it was a surprise to me more than anything," King said at a downtown steakhouse.