Sacramento Kings

Steve Blake made six three-pointers and scored 20 points, and the Portland Trail Blazers pulled away in the third quarter Friday night for a 117-96 victory over the struggling Kings.

After shooting 59 percent in the opening half, the Blazers scored the final 10 points of the third quarter to open a 94-69 lead that was never cut below 20 in the fourth.

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 19 points for the Blazers, who made 14 of 26 three-point attempts.

Rookie Jason Thompson had 19 points and 12 rebounds for the Kings, who have lost four of five games. Brad Miller scored 16 points, and Spencer Hawes had 15. Bobby Brown added 13 points and seven assists.

Blake and Bo Outlaw both made two three-pointers and joined Brandon Roy with eight third-quarter points for Portland, which outscored the Kings 37-18 in the period and rendered the Arco Arena crowd silent.

The Kings continue to play without leading scorer Kevin Martin, starting forward Mikki Moore and top reserve Francisco García. All three players are injured.

After opening the season with three consecutive wins at home, the Kings have dropped four in a row, a rarity in the Sacramento era as Arco has always been a tough place for opponents.

Sources say the Kings will hire versatile agent Jason Levien, left, in the coming weeks. At right is his most prominent client, Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin.

The Kings will add a piece to their front office next month, when attorney and agent Jason Levien is expected to be named assistant general manager.

The move, which sources within the organization and close to the team say should be official in the coming weeks, marks a rare addition to the Kings' management team that Geoff Petrie has headed for 15 years. And with an on-court rebuilding and youth movement already in effect, the franchise also is taking the same approach upstairs.

Levien, 37, has earned a reputation as a versatile talent, having negotiated hundreds of millions of dollars in NBA contracts while showing an ability to find little-known players who come up big. Although Levien no longer will be an agent, Kings shooting guard Kevin Martin was chief among his clientele.

A graduate of Pomona College in Claremont who earned his law degree and master's in public policy from Michigan, Levien played basketball at Pomona and considered a career as a coach. According to the biography on his agency's Web site, he has a "comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the NBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement."

Levien has a background in politics as well, having worked with former President Bill Clinton and then-first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House in 1994 and written the keynote speech for Congressman Harold Ford Jr. at the 2000 Democratic National Convention. Levien did not return numerous calls for comment.

As the Kings operationally are fixed on the long term, every move is made with the likelihood of lasting implications. Change has been rare, with Petrie at the helm and Wayne Cooper in his 12th season as vice president of basketball operations (15 seasons overall). And while Petrie and Kings co-owner Joe Maloof declined to discuss Levien's hiring, his role clearly will be significant.

"(His hiring is) something that's in process, but it's not something that has happened," Petrie, who does not have a contract beyond next season, said this week. "It's somewhere in there. It's probably not something I'd have a whole lot to say on at the moment, only because it hasn't happened yet."

According to the sources, Levien and the Kings have agreed to terms on a multiyear deal that is expected to be signed by the end of the month.

"I have a lot of confidence in him," said Joe Maloof, speaking hypothetically with Levien not yet signed. "He'd be a good addition to our basketball operations part of our company. He's got a great eye for basketball talent.

"Geoff is the one who is real high on him. Gavin (Maloof) and I are, of course, but I think he developed a relationship with Geoff, and Geoff's very impressed with what Jason has to offer."

Levien's dealings with Petrie have been extensive, but it was their shared journey in 2000 that began their relationship.

After the Kings drafted Hedo Turkoglu 16th overall, Levien, who was representing Turkoglu at the time while working for the Williams & Connolly agency, accompanied Petrie and team attorney Matina Kolokotronis to Istanbul to resolve contractual hurdles that threatened to keep Turkoglu overseas.

The process involved a buyout of Turkoglu's contract with Turkish team Efes Pilsen and the requirement that the International Basketball Federation clear Turkoglu to join the Kings. Petrie, as he made clear at the time, was impressed.

"Everything worked out well," Petrie told The Bee on Aug. 3, 2000, after returning from the trip. "The lawyers did an excellent job of working through a lot of different issues that came up."

More recently, Levien negotiated Martin's five-year, $53 million extension in the summer of 2007, then a deal for Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng (six years, $71 million) last summer that came after more than a year of negotiations and was the largest in Bulls history. Levien's first significant deal came in the summer of 2005, when the Miami Heat locked up forward Udonis Haslem for a five-year extension worth approximately $33 million.

While the notion of an agent joining a front office in the professional sports world is certainly unorthodox, it is not unprecedented.

Arizona Diamondbacks CEO and Modesto native Jeff Moorad is the premier example, having been an agent for 20 years before switching sides.

Similarly, the NBA saw a recent turn toward the nontraditional when the Houston Rockets promoted Daryl Morey from assistant general manager to general manager in May 2007.

Morey, who earned his master's in business administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and spent three years with the Boston Celtics before coming to Houston, is known for his statistics-based analytical scouting methods.

The situation is far more subtle in Sacramento, where Levien's mere presence will be a sign that the rebuilding of all kinds continues.

"I think he's dynamic," Maloof said. "He's a young, bright, fresh mind that we'd love to have within the organization."

Kings coach Reggie Theus hoped to return to Sacramento to hear positive news about the players the team left behind on its two-game trip.

No such luck.

Theus said Kevin Martin (sprained left ankle), Francisco García (strained right calf) and Mikki Moore (sprained right ankle) are expected to miss tonight's game against the Portland Trail Blazers at Arco Arena.

"Mikki is the furthest along, 'Cisco is after that, and Kevin, there isn't a timeline yet," Theus said.

Moore could return as early as Sunday against the Los Angeles Lakers, while García likely will begin practicing with the team in the next several days.

However, Martin, who has missed the past six games, had a second MRI recently and will be out longer than anticipated. Theus said the MRI revealed "no further problems" and said it is "just a slow-healing injury."

Martin's original prognosis had him returning no later than Thursday. Kings basketball president Geoff Petrie said Wednesday that Martin could return as late as the middle of next week.

"We are talking still quite some time before we are healthy," Theus said. "Once you get your guys back, it takes awhile before everyone gets in sync."

Meanwhile, Theus analyzed matchups that won't wait for his injured players. The Blazers, fresh off routing the Chicago Bulls 116-74 on Wednesday, has Greg Oden coming off the bench.

"They are very athletic and very talented," Theus said. "They are extremely deep. They are a team that has gotten better and better with their personnel."

Theus said he is considering the lineup used in the 105-96 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday, which had rookie Donté Greene starting at small forward.

Greene, who averaged 5.6 minutes in five games off the bench, played 35 minutes in his first NBA start. He scored 15 points, going 3 for 4 from three-point range. Theus said he continues to remind Greene what will earn him minutes.

"He has to continue to understand that we know he can score," Theus said. "It's his defense and paying attention to those aspects that will keep him on the floor."