The Sacramento Kings are firing head coach Mike Brown, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Friday.
Sacramento is currently on a five-game losing streak and has lost 12 of its last 17 games. At 13–18, the Kings are last in the Pacific Division and ranked 12th in the Western Conference.
Assistant coach Doug Christie will be named the interim coach, according to multiple reports. The team resumes its season on Saturday versus the Los Angeles Lakers.
On Thursday night, the Kings coughed up a one-point loss to the 14-17 Detroit Pistons on a four-point play in the game’s final seconds. According to ABC10’s Matt George, Brown was fired after running practice and meeting with the media, just before the team boarded a flight to Los Angeles for its matchup with the Lakers Saturday night.
“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 told reporters on Friday. “I’ve been fortunate, blessed … to be around great players and great coaches, and the crazy part about it is I’ve been around coaches that have won titles. And they have a lot of smoke they’ve got to face when their little stretch of adversity is not great.”
Brown, 54, was named Coach of the Year in 2023 and had signed a three-year extension with the team through the 2026-27 season in June.
Before agreeing to the extension, the Kings and Brown had disagreed on the average annual salary in a new deal and it appeared that he might finish out his contract after this season. His eventual deal put him among the top eight head coach salaries in the league at $8.5 million per year. He finished in Sacramento with a 107–88 record and one first-round playoff series.
Brown had previously served as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers (2005-10 and 2013-14) and Lakers (2011-12). His overall record is 454–304.
Prior to his first head coaching position, Brown worked as an assistant for eight seasons with the Washington Wizards, San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers and Golden State Warriors. He was on the staff of four NBA championship teams, one with the Spurs and three with the Warriors.
Christie joined the Kings’ coaching staff as an assistant under Alvin Gentry for the 2021-22 season. For the previous three seasons, he was an analyst on the team’s TV broadcasts. Christie played five seasons for the Kings among his 15 seasons in the NBA. He also played with the Lakers, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers.