Kings fire Mike Brown after 13-18 start, 1 day after blowing 19-point lead: Source

The Sacramento Kings fired coach Mike Brown on Friday, a team source confirmed, following an 0-5 homestand that dropped them to 12th in the Western Conference two months into a regular season that began with lofty internal expectations.

Doug Christie will be the team’s interim coach, league sources told The Athletic. Christie played four and a half seasons with the franchise and was an assistant coach on Brown’s staff.

Brown, who signed a three-year contract extension in June, was 31 games into his third season in Sacramento. The Kings won 48 and 46 games in his first two seasons, famously ending their 16-year playoff drought back in 2023, the same season Brown won unanimous Coach of the Year. Sacramento lost to the Warriors in a seven-game first round series in 2023 and went out in the Play-In Tournament this past spring.

Brown’s final game came on Thursday night against the Detroit Pistons. The Kings led by 19 points in the third quarter and 10 points with under three minutes left but blew the lead in agonizing fashion.

De’Aaron Fox — the team’s star guard whose future with the franchise is increasingly uncertain — fouled Detroit’s Jaden Ivey behind the 3-point line while the Kings led by three. Ivey made the 3 and the free throw to cap the Detroit comeback.

JADEN IVEY 4-POINT PLAY FOR THE WIN ‼️

Pistons win 114-113 🚨 pic.twitter.com/9wuXDyj85V

— NBA (@NBA) December 27, 2024

Brown later gave a scathing, frustrated news conference critical of Fox’s error and the team’s overall inability to lock in on the details.

Brown conducted the Kings’ afternoon practice Friday and was spotted by local reporters in a conversation with Fox afterward. Brown held his typical post-practice interview session and was readying to board a plane to Los Angeles for the team’s Saturday night road game against the Lakers when the organization revealed its choice to let him go.

The Kings are 13-18 and in a tailspin after signing DeMar DeRozan this offseason in hopes of taking the next step into a firmer perennial playoff contender before it is too late in the Fox era.

News of Brown’s firing was first reported by ESPN.

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(Photo: Ezra Shaw / Getty Images)