After Firing Of Mike Brown, Sacramento Kings Are Looking For Their Ninth Head Coach In 12 Years

Mike Brown was named head coach of the Sacramento Kings in May 2022. Two years later, he had coached the team to their first two winning seasons in nearly 20 years and won the first unanimous NBA Coach of the Year ever. The Kings signed him to a rich contract extension in 2024, and for good reason.

With that resume, it would be easy to assume that he had earned a little grace. The performance of his Kings, though, heightened expectations – and they would not easily be let down.

Following a mildly disappointing 2023-24 season that culminated in a loss in the play-in tournament, the Kings started out the 2024-25 season in turbulent and underwhelming fashion.

They returned home in early December sitting at 13-13, finally starting to gain some traction after a three-game win streak. Then they lost all five games of the homestand, continuing to break down late in games, with Brown turning in significant criticism of the team’s play in the ensuing press conferences.

On Dec. 27, Brown was fired – to shock and ire that echoed around the league.

“I’m not surprised that Mike Brown got fired because I got fired by the same person,” said Michael Malone, current head coach of the Denver Nuggets, summing the move up as, “No balls. No class.” Malone was fired by the Kings in 2015 barely a quarter of the way through his second season.

The person he’s referring to? Kings owner Vivek Ranadive.

While other rumors have pointed to rifts with prominent players, such as De’Aaron Fox, the players and people surrounding the situation have denied conflict. “You can ask anybody in this organization: me and Mike have never even had an argument,” Fox told ESPN. “We could disagree with something. We talked about it and it was gone.”

Ranadive, though, has both the final say on coaching and a penchant for switching it up. In his 12 years of ownership, the team has cycled through eight coaches, including current interim head coach Doug Christie.

Ranadive was reportedly very upset over the Kings’ offense declining in Brown’s second season, despite their defense improving significantly. He was visibly frustrated over the course of the Kings’ losing homestand, and his was the final stamp of approval on Brown’s firing.

The story, again, is complex. Players were reportedly frustrated with Brown’s stern press conferences, and Christie had longtime supporters in the Kings front office.

Regardless, the firing made waves across the league as Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley and New York Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau joined Malone in expressing their shock.

“If you look at the job that he did and the turnaround that he had,” said Carlisle, “It’s just really hard to believe that this decision was made.”

“I won’t be here 50 years as the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, although I’d love it,” said Brown following his first season with the team. “So for me, if something was to end for me, as long as I can look in the mirror and I can honestly tell myself that I tried to do the best I could for this team, then I’m gonna be OK with it.”

Brown likely won’t be out of a job for long. The Kings’ contender status under Christie, though, remains to be seen.

Article by Katherine Manz