In 2022, the Sacramento Kings hired Mike Brown to take over as head coach of the franchise after posting three 30-win seasons in a row. Brown quickly turned things around, leading the Kings to a 48-34 record in the 2022-23 season and their first playoff appearance since the 2005-06 season. Brown would capture NBA Coach of the Year honors and everything was looking up for the Kings.
Now, just over two years later, Mike Brown was fired as the Sacramento Kings head coach, leaving the futures of both in the air.
Mike Brown Fired As Kings Head Coach
The Mike Brown firing news should probably not come as a shock to anyone who has been paying attention to the Sacramento Kings since Brown won Coach of the Year honors in his first season. With the same corps of De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, the Kings were 46-36. While that is a solid record, that was only good enough for ninth in the Western Conference. While the Kings did beat the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the Play-In Tournament, they lost to New Orleans in the eighth-seed game, falling short of the NBA playoffs.
Missing the playoffs was definitely disappointing for the Kings, but there were signs of hope yet again with a solid corps adding in DeMar DeRozan in the offseason. After losing the first two games of the season, Sacramento started to look like the team from two years ago, winning eight of their next 12 to improve to 8-6 on the year. Since that eighth win, the Kings have been just 5-12 over their last 17 games, including their fifth straight loss last night against the Detroit Pistons.
Simply put, the Kings are not where they should be. Although they are far from one of the best teams in the NBA, there is no reason a team with De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan should be five games under .500 and in serious danger of missing the playoffs yet again. While there is plenty of basketball left to be played, the Kings are already three games out of the last play-in spot and four-and-a-half games out of the sixth seed.
Who Will Be the Next Kings Head Coach?
For head coach Mike Brown, the answer is pretty simple: he’s going back to being an assistant coach. Brown last served as a head coach in the 2013-14 season for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Since that time, he has been the associate head coach for the Golden State Warriors. With this being his fourth stint as a head coach, it’s clear he doesn’t have the goods to make it long-term outside of really bad teams that are looking for a jolt of energy.
For the Sacramento Kings, there are plenty of options available. The only question left is what kind of coach they’re looking for. The Kings could go the unproven route like the Los Angeles Lakers did this past offseason. The Lakers sent shockwaves across the NBA when they hired JJ Redick to be their head coach although he had no previous coaching experience at any level. The Kings could look to go for someone completely out of left field like Redick, or they might pry away an assistant coach currently on another team’s staff.
The more likely outcome is that the Kings look for a head coach with a proven track record in the league. James Borrego, Terry Stotts and Mike D’Antoni are just a few of the many coaches with head coaching experience that are currently available. With a corps that they believe can and should be able to win now, it would seem the Kings go with one of those proven options. In the meantime, Doug Christie will serve as the Kings’ interim coach for the remainder of the season.
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