Two years ago, the Sacramento Kings were the darlings of the NBA. With De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis in starring roles and Mike Brown at the helm in his first year as head coach, the Kings earned the 3-seed in the West and pushed the Warriors to 7 games in the first round. That seemingly signaled Sacramento joining the ranks of the playoff contender class in the West, but after falling to the Play-In last year (and not making it out of that) they have slipped even further off the pace to start this season.
At 13-18, the Kings are 12th in the West, three games back of the three-way tie for the 8-10 spots in the conference between the Warriors, Timberwolves, and Suns. On Thursday night, the Kings lost in gutting fashion to the Pistons after giving up a four-point play to Jaden Ivey while up three, and that loss was the final straw for ownership and the front office, as they fired head coach Mike Brown on Friday afternoon, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Brown went 107-88 in his 2.5 seasons with the Kings, guiding them to that playoff appearance in 2022-23 that saw them snap the NBA’s longest playoff drought and saw him win Coach of the Year. However, there is ample pressure on the Kings to not just replicate but build on that success, with De’Aaron Fox applying pressure to prove they’re serious about winning earlier this season when discussing looming contract extension talks. After signing DeMar DeRozan this summer, the Kings felt they’d put enough talent together to be a real threat for a playoff spot, even in a loaded Western Conference, but they’re well off the pace and clearly don’t feel like Brown was maximizing this group’s talents.