The Sacramento Kings just dropped a bombshell on the NBA community by parting ways with coach Mike Brown. On Friday, ESPN’s Shams Charania revealed the news and what pushed the Kings to make this decision now.
“Just In: The Sacramento Kings are parting ways with head coach Mike Brown,” wrote Shams on X. “Kings fire Mike Brown in the midst of a five-game losing streak, 12 of last 17, and have lost an NBA-high 13 clutch time games this season. Brown won Coach of the Year in 2022-23 when he led the Kings to the postseason, snapping a U.S. sports-record 17-year playoff drought. Mike Brown signed a three-year extension through 2027 with the Kings in June. Let go just over six months later, amid a 13-18, 12th place start to a season with playoff expectations.”
Mike Brown was the man behind some of the Kings’ most successful campaigns. In the 2022-23 season, arguably the franchise’s best in decades, Brown’s gameplan and leadership helped them secure the 3rd best record in the West at 48-34. They fought hard in the playoffs before being defeated in 7 games by the Golden State Warriors.
That season was like a party for Kings fans, who got to “light the beam” after every home win for a team that they all loved to watch. But ever since that historic Kings run, it’s been extremely underwhelming for the franchise.
Last season, despite finishing just 2 games worse than the one before, they fell to 9th in the standings and couldn’t even make it out of the play-in tournament.
Now, in the 2024-25 campaign, the Kings are in even worse shape. Their 1-point loss to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday marked their 5th straight defeat, which came after a pair of losses to the Lakers. Currently, the franchise is a measly 13-18, good for 12th in the Western Conference.
On paper, the Kings should be much better than their record shows. With proven stars like De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and DeMar DeRozan, they have a deep roster with a wide variety of different skill sets. And yet, somehow, they are average at best on both sides of the court with a 9th-place offensive rating and 15th-place rating on defense.
With limited trade options, the Kings felt that a new coach was the best move that they could make but it remains to be seen who will be considered for Brown’s replacement. At this stage, there’s no way to know for sure who the Kings will hire next but some names have been mentioned, including Kenny Atkinson, Terry Stotts, Sam Cassell, and James Borrego.
Of course, the Kings could also look internally to promote one of their own. Until they settle on a permanent hire, someone on the staff will have to take the reigns and one of them could end up with the job if they achieve the desired results.
More details will likely surface in the coming days and weeks, but there may be more to this move than we know. Many believe the firing was premature and the timing was bizarre given that it came just moments after Brown finished a full practice with the team and as he was preparing to board the flight for the next game.
Whatever happened with Brown and the Kings, there isn’t much time for them to react. They play the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday at Crypto.com arena (10:30 PM EST) before a showdown against the Dallas Mavericks on December 30th at 10:00 PM EST. Their first game of 2025 is on Wednesday, January 1st, against the 76ers at Golden 1 Center.
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