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The Sacramento Kings have hired Galen Duncan as Vice President of the Kings Academy and Professional Development.
In his role with Sacramento, Duncan is responsible for implementation of the Kings Academy program, a developmental, player-centric curriculum aligning multi-faceted organizational philosophies and ideals to help athletes mature into well-rounded professionals. Under Duncan’s oversight, Kings Academy will augment on-court progress with access to practical material and experiences that help balance on-court priorities and personal responsibilities with opportunities to become impactful contributors in the community.
A Ph.D. in health psychology, Duncan joins the Kings organization after spending 10 years as Senior Director of Player Development with the National Football League’s Detroit Lions, where he advised players regarding housing options, financial education tools, counseling connections and off-field career opportunities. Additionally, Duncan assisted Football Operations with character evaluations for all draft eligible players and oversaw rookie transition and social media etiquette training programs while also serving as the Lions liaison between the League Office and NFLPA (NFL Players Association) and member of the Player Development Steering Committee. Duncan also spent six seasons as a treating clinician for the NFL’s Program for Abuse of Substances, providing one-on-one and group therapy for football players involved in the mandatory treatment program.
Duncan’s professional experience features consultancies with the NBA Rookie Transition Program and NBA Players Association, for which he presented psychologically instructive presentations and facilitated individual and group counseling sessions tailored to first and second year players. He remains an active therapist in both the Wayne State University and University of Detroit Mercy Athletic Departments, counseling collegiate teams and athletes across numerous sporting disciplines.
A retired United States Army Reserves officer, the Detroit native and Lake Superior State alumnus (’94) played collegiate basketball before securing his Master’s Degree in social work from Wayne State University (’97) and Ph.D. in health psychology from Walden University in 2006.
