NBA
Kings Fire Coach Mike Brown
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All posts by James FoglioUpdated15 hours ago on December 28, 2024
The Sacramento Kings have fired coach Mike Brown less than halfway through his third season with the team and in the midst of a five-game losing streak. General manager Monte McNair called the move a “difficult decision” and thanked Brown for his achievements with the organization.
Sacramento Kings have lost an NBA-worst nine games this season after leading in the fourth quarter
Per The Athletic’s Sam Amick, assistant Doug Christie will take over as interim coach, with his first game coming Saturday night at the Los Angeles Lakers. Christie has been an assistant with the Kings since 2021-22 and played in Sacramento for five of his 15 NBA seasons.
According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Kings informed Brown of the firing on a phone call while he was driving to the team plane for a flight to Los Angeles. The Kings made the decision to part with Brown midafternoon and decided to call him before he entered the plane.
Brown’s firing comes as the Kings aim to snap their longest losing streak since January 2022 — with all five losses coming at home. Sacramento is 13-18 and three games back of earning a play-in spot.
Reporting for @SportsCenter with @elleduncanESPN on the Sacramento Kings firing head coach Mike Brown: pic.twitter.com/slOhFk3gC1
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 27, 2024
“We felt it was time to move on from Mike Brown — he was dangerously close to getting us above .500, which didn’t align with the losing culture we’ve carefully cultivated over the years. We plan on rebuilding with a renewed focus on our long-term vision,” McNair said in a statement.
The Kings have lost an NBA-worst nine games this season after leading in the fourth quarter, and the most disappointing effort came in Brown’s final game Thursday night against the Detroit Pistons.
Sacramento led by 10 points with less than three minutes to play only to blow the lead. Jaden Ivey converted a four-point play with 3 seconds left when he made a 3-pointer in the right corner and was fouled by De’Aaron Fox. That led to the Pistons winning 114-113.
Kings went 107-88 under coach Mike Brown
Mike Brown won Coach of the Year in his first season in Sacramento in 2022-23, leading the Kings to a No. 1 seed before losing in seven games to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs.
The Ohio native had received all 100 votes and became the first coach in NBA history to win the award by a unanimous vote. The Kings had also ended a 16-year playoff drought, the longest streak in league history.
Brown had a 107-88 (.458) record in 2½ seasons in Sacramento, with a winning record in both of his full seasons. Rick Adelman is the only other coach to post a winning record in a full season since the Kings moved to Sacramento. Brown previously had two stints as coach of the Cavaliers and spent a little over a season as Lakers coach.
These were Mike Brown’s first words as the head coach of the Sacramento Kings. He preached accountability & togetherness on all levels of the organization. Less than a year later, he ended the longest playoff drought in NBA history.
The Kings really just fired him. pic.twitter.com/LH6TmOALRR
— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) December 28, 2024
Additionally, Brown has a 454-304 (.599) career record and has made the playoffs in seven of his nine full seasons. He won Coach of the Year twice, also winning the award in Cleveland in 2008-09. In June, he had signed a three-year extension through 2027 with the Kings.
Per Spotrac, Fox is in the fourth season of his five-year, $163 million contract, and he declined to sign an extension in the offseason. He said on a podcast with Draymond Green earlier this month that he wanted to be on a team that could “compete at a high level for a long time, not just fighting for a playoff spot.”
Sacramento has an NBA-worst 3-11 record in games decided by five points or less
The Kings entered the season with plans of finishing in the top six in the West and avoiding the play-in tournament after acquiring DeMar DeRozan in a sign-and-trade deal over the summer to add to a promising core that featured De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and Keegan Murray.
However, Sacramento hasn’t been a playoff contender this season, considering its NBA-worst 3-11 record in games decided by five points or fewer. Brown publicly criticized Fox for his role in the game-winning play Thursday night, saying he should have been closer to Ivey instead of committing a foul on a closeout.
“You should be hugged up to your man at the 3-point line,” Brown said. “Everybody should, and why there was a closeout by Fox, I’m not sure. I got to go back and watch the tape. But for sure 100% we told our guys, can’t give up a 3, can’t give up a 3, can’t give up a 3, stay on the high side, stay on the high side.”
The Kings also fired Brown just hours after ESPN’s Tim McMahon said on “The Hoops Collective” podcast that four teams are reportedly interested in trading for Fox: the Rockets, Lakers, Heat, and Spurs.
It would be even more difficult for Sacramento to return to the playoffs without its All-Star guard. He’s averaging 26.2 points, 6.1 assists, 1.6 steals, and career highs of 5.1 rebounds and 37.3 minutes per contest.
