Former Kings guard De’Aaron Fox is on to bigger and better things with the Spurs but there are still some questions about what went wrong in his previous tenure. In a chat with league insider Michael Wright, Fox explained what set the stage for his breakup with the Kings after eight years.
“I was like, ‘Yo, I’ve been here for going on my eighth year. If Mike gets fired, I’ll be going on my fifth coach,” said Fox. “And I told them, ‘I’m not going to play for another coach. I’m going to play for another team.’”
Mike Brown helped the Kings complete one of their most impressive seasons to date in 2023. That campaign, Brown coached Fox and Domantas Sabonis to the third-best record in the West at 48-34. Yet, it wasn’t enough for him to keep his job.
For De’Aaron, the problem wasn’t just firing Brown – it was how the Kings handled his departure, offering no explanation while letting their star point guard take all the heat.
“You fire the coach, and you don’t do an interview? So, all the blame was on me,” said Fox. “Did it weigh on me? No. I don’t give a f***. But the fact y’all are supposed to be protecting your player and y’all let that happen… I felt at the time the organization didn’t have my back.”
The Kings placed a lot of trust in De’Aaron and it looked like he was set up to become one of the team’s most iconic players. After drafting him fifth overall in 2017, he became the face of the franchise and even recently made his first team in 2023 with averages of 25.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game on 51.2% shooting.
The Kings chose De’Aaron over Tyrese Haliburton in 2022 and it was a controversial move at the time. Fox tried to make the most of it and embrace his leading role but the Kings were never able to make more than a brief appearance in the postseason.
Finally, after multiple failed seasons, the Kings pulled the plug on coach Brown despite his history of success. Reports claim that the Kings didn’t want to fire Mike Brown and tried their hardest to make it work, but ultimately they lost faith that he could lead and decided that a major change was necessary.
In the aftermath of Brown’s firing, they alienated De’Aaron even further by offering a limited explanation and letting him take all the blame. What’s even worse is that the Kings didn’t have a replacement in mind.
To this day, Doug Christie is serving as the interim coach, meaning that they have yet to find someone to replace Mike Brown. So while the Kings may have veteran players like Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Domantas Sabonis on the roster, they don’t have a proven and established voice in the locker room to lead the group and take them to the next level.
Mike Brown used to be that guy for them but without him or De’Aaron Fox, it remains to be seen if they can return to a state of contention anytime soon. If not, another rebuild may be on the horizon.
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