Kings fire former coach of the year Mike Brown

Life can come at you quick within the NBA.

The Sacramento Kings fired head coach Mike Brown after a 13-18 begin to the season on Friday.

Former Raptors taking pictures guard and present Kings assistant coach Doug Christie will take over within the interim.

“This was a troublesome determination, and I wish to thank Mike for his many contributions to the group,” Kings common supervisor Monte McNair stated in a press release.

Brown gained the Coach of the 12 months award simply two seasons in the past as he led the Kings to their first playoff berth after a 17-year drought. His first couple seasons even earned the 54-year-old a three-year, $30-million extension that might’ve stored him in Sacramento by means of the 2026-27 marketing campaign.

Other than Rick Adelman, Brown was the one different Kings coach to steer the staff to a successful document in any season because the franchise moved to Sacramento in 1985. Brown has a 107-88 document in two-plus seasons in Sacramento with a successful document in each of his full seasons.

Sadly for the veteran coach, the attract of his early success has rapidly worn off. The Kings missed out on the playoffs final yr, getting bounced within the second spherical of the play-in because the ninth seed, and are on tempo for simply 34 wins this season, which might’ve been the bottom since Brown took over.

A middling document, lack of id and season-worst five-game skid seemed to be sufficient for the entrance workplace to pursue a change in course.

When the Brown-led Kings had been at their peak two years in the past, Sacramento was the league’s prime offence. But, by means of 31 video games in 2024-25 the Kings rank eleventh in factors per recreation and ninth in offensive ranking and stay a middle-of-the-pack defensive bunch.

Issues acquired particularly bleak this week because the Kings allowed 70 factors within the second half of a 122-95 loss to the Indiana Pacers, and adopted it up by blowing a 19-point result in the Detroit Pistons on Thursday.

Sacramento led by 10 factors with lower than three minutes to play solely to break down down the stretch. Jaden Ivey transformed a four-point play with three seconds left when he made a three-pointer in the proper nook and was fouled by De’Aaron Fox. That gave the Pistons a 114-113 win, leaving the Kings in twelfth place within the Western Convention.

The Kings have misplaced an NBA-worst 9 video games this season after main within the fourth quarter with the worst one coming in Brown’s ultimate recreation as coach Thursday evening in opposition to Detroit.

Not what most anticipated out of a staff constructed round an All-Star pairing of Fox and Domantas Sabonis — and a squad that additionally added a six-time All-Star in DeMar DeRozan by means of free company in the summertime.

Extra change may very well be on the best way in Sacramento as effectively. Fox’s time with the franchise that drafted him fifth total in 2017 may very well be nearing an finish because the 27-year-old opted to not signal an extension coming into the yr and is 2 seasons away from unrestricted free company.

Rumours have already begun swirling, linking the All-Star guard to groups just like the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets ought to he be dealt.

— with information from the Related Press.