The Sacramento Kings have parted ways with head coach Mike Brown, Shams Charania of ESPN reports.
Brown’s termination comes as the Kings are in the midst of a five-game losing streak. Each loss has been at home and their streak is the longest since January 2022. So far this season, the Kings are 13-18 on the season and trailing three games for a berth in a play-in game.
According to multiple reports, assistant coach Doug Christie will be named the interim coach.
The firing is a surprising move as Brown just led the team’s practice and spoke to reporters in the media. Matt George of ABC 10 reported that Brown was “fired just before the team boarded a flight to Los Angeles” to take on the Lakers.
During practice on Friday (December 27), Brown spoke about the struggles of the seasons and the business of the NBA.
“I’ve been through a lot in this business, I’ve been through way more good times than bad times, but I’ve been through some bad times,” Brown said.“I’ve been fortunate, and blessed … to be around great players and great coaches. The crazy part about it is I’ve been around coaches that have won titles. They have a lot of smoke they’ve got to face when their little stretch of adversity is not great.”
“We literally just finished talking with Mike Brown,” George wrote on X (formerly Twitter). This is a disaster for the Sacramento Kings.”
“The Sacramento Kings just fired Mike Brown right before the team boarded a flight to LA,” he wrote in another post. “He just ran a full practice and spent 15 minutes talking to the media. “Just bad man. Bad bad bad.”
In his fourth coaching stint, Brown amassed a record of 454-304. Sacramento to its first playoff appearance since 2005-06 during the 2022-23 season.
With a lineup of former all-stars De’Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis, and DeMar DeRozan, many believed that the Kings would make a major leap this season.
The firing of Brown comes after he agreed to a contract extension through 2026-27 in June.
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