After losing their fifth consecutive game in improbable fashion on Thursday night, the Sacramento Kings reportedly made the decision to fire head coach Mike Brown on Friday, ending a two-and-a-half-year run with the team.
Along with the five-game losing streak, the Kings have also lost 12 of their last 17 games and find themselves in 12th place in the Western Conference on the outside of the playoff picture.
The biggest issue this season for the Kings, among many, has been closing out games, having lost five games after entering the fourth quarter with the lead. That is the second-most games in the NBA this season, trailing only the Toronto Raptors. If they had simply held on to even two or three of those games, they would at least be in a play-in position at the moment instead of on the outside looking in.
In Brown’s first year as the Kings’ head coach, he led the team to a 48-34 record and the franchise’s first playoff berth in 16 years, snapping what was the longest playoff drought in NBA history. That season resulted in him winning the league’s Coach of the Year Award for the second time.
The Kings took a small step backward in 2023-24, winning two fewer games and narrowly missing out on a playoff spot by losing a play-in game to the New Orleans Pelicans.
They have taken an even bigger step back this season, resulting in the change.
It is a harsh reminder of how quickly things can change for coaches in professional sports. Not even two years ago, Brown helped rejuvenate a dormant, irrelevant franchise. This past June, he was given a new contract extension. Now, not even halfway through the season, he is out of a job.