Every now and again the Sacramento Kings do something that reminds you exactly who they are, with the firing of Mike Brown being the latest example.
On its face, the Kings’ 13-18 record this season is underwhelming, punctuated by their stunning fourth-quarter collapse to the surging Detroit Pistons on Thursday night. De’Aaron Fox was caught snoozing on the decisive possession in leaving Jaden Ivey open for a 3-pointer when that was the only thing that could hurt them — only fouling Ivey would make it worse.
And that’s exactly what Fox did, creating the improbable four-point play that completed the Pistons’ comeback.
As implausible as that finish was, it was even more unthinkable the Kings would apparently fire Brown on his way to the airport in the afternoon, as opposed to doing it during normal business hours.
But then again, it’s the Sacramento Kings, the franchise that actually fired Michael Malone a decade ago, right around this time of year. The same Michael Malone who’s become a championship-winning head coach in Denver, and one of the most stable head coaches in this itchy NBA.
“No class. No balls,” Malone said when hearing the news about Brown, a direct shot at Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé.
It was a few short months ago the Kings gave Brown a three-year extension in the neighborhood of $25 million, which is generally seen as an endorsement from the front office and ownership — and losing 12 of 17 games shouldn’t be enough to move a stable franchise off that square.
Squares are sometimes Bermuda Triangles in that part of California, apparently. Brown took a franchise that has been rudderless for the better part of its NBA existence and gave it an identity, earning Coach of the Year honors two seasons ago in getting the Kings to the third seed in the wild, wild West.
The Kings added veteran DeMar DeRozan, one of the league’s most clutch players, to Fox, who won the award in 2023. That would seem like a recipe for the Kings to immediately become one of the league’s best late-game teams.
But it wasn’t the case, as the Kings have played the most clutch games in the league to date — with clutch being defined as a game finishing within five points — but have gone just 6-13 in those contests. However, looking at Fox having the mistake of his life last night and compounding the situation with a foul, how could anyone blame Brown for that? Especially when he explicitly laid it out in his postgame news conference, that the plan was to hug every player around the 3-point line and if the opportunity presented itself, to foul if someone had his back to the basket and was nowhere near the shooting motion.
That’s solid strategy.
Fox declined to comment after the game, and it appeared he was shirking accountability in the moment — perhaps something more complicated was going on, but the bottom line is, he screwed up and not owning it in the moment is a bad look for a team that’s had a couple too many bad losses a third of the way into this season.
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It was going to take time, adding DeRozan into this mix, particularly when space hasn’t been easy to find with a couple main shooters in Keegan Murray and Malik Monk not performing to their career numbers.
Space is the most valued entity in today’s game, and without it, it’s hard for teams to function late — and if you can’t be trusted to shoot, teams will load up on the impact players to cause confusion.
Time is the most valuable commodity on the sidelines, with patience being not too far behind. But it was in short order for a franchise short on success.
And given the Kings didn’t bother to fire Brown until after he went through practice and a media session, it gave him the opportunity to discuss leadership as he sees it, almost issuing a plea to Fox.
“And to show that you’re human means sometimes you got to show that you’re vulnerable,” Brown said. “At the end of the day, it’s not just Fox. It’s everybody. It’s Fox, it’s [Domantas Sabonis], it’s Malik. You know, to be able to say, ‘Hey, you know what? I made a mistake here. I made a mistake there.’ That doesn’t mean that it’s all on them, but it’s just acknowledging, ‘I’m human. I made a mistake. I can be better, and I’m going to be better.’ That’s something you learn through experience.
“You learn from watching others and being around others that are OK taking on the accountability, because it’s not easy. You know, you got the pressure of the world on you. And, like I said before, there’s a lot of smoke there and not many people want to handle that smoke or know how to handle that smoke.”
The Kings didn’t want the smoke of what Brown was referring to, so they dismissed him. That’s what happens in today’s NBA with coaches, and make no mistake, they aren’t without fail. They understand what comes with this job — and they know it’s much easier to fire the coach than to deal with some discomfort with the players.
“As an NBA coach, ultimately, you’re going to get blame,” Malone said before the Nuggets played the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night. “When they win, [credit] is gonna go to Sabonis and Fox and when you lose, it’s gonna go to Mike Brown. That’s the way it works. And two, who he works for [Ranadivé].”
Fox has made things a little uncomfortable with the Kings, as he’s under contract for only one year after this one and turned down an extension before this season began. Clearly it’s better for him to wait so he can possibly sign for a supermax deal this coming summer, but it gives him tremendous leverage in the meantime — especially as the Kings are desperate to hold onto their homegrown star, choosing him over Tyrese Haliburton a couple years ago when moving Haliburton for Sabonis.
That was a cog in jumpstarting their rebuild, and bringing in Brown was the catalyst in changing the culture. He went viral his opening weeks as coach when, not just imploring his players to get back on defense during training camp, but demonstrating it himself, a heavy feat for a 50-plus-year-old man.
Brown didn’t suddenly lose the ability to coach over the course of a few months, nor does any coach who gets the ax early in a season. Nick Nurse is going through a disastrous stretch in Philadelphia, but so far his key card still works — and the 76ers are far from an efficiently run outfit.
The Kings fired Brown because they didn’t like the direction of the team over the last couple months. Fine. But does anyone trust them and their vision for the direction of the team moving forward?
