Kings players react to sudden coaching change

Temporary Kings coach Doug Christie stressed the need for unity when he addressed the team after Friday’s surprise sacking Mike Brownwrites Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Christie, who served as an assistant to Brown, will be responsible for trying to salvage a season that is spiraling out of control after an 0-5 home run. Sacramento is 12th in the West at 13-18 and needs a quick turnaround to climb back into the playoffs.

Christie spoke with his players before their plane left Friday for tonight’s game against the Lakers and again at the morning shootaround, according to McMenamin.

“To come out and stick together, fight and just be us, be who we are and turn this thing around,” Domantas Sabonis said as he shared his new head coach’s message.

Malik monk said “all spirits were high” at the shootaround as the team feels a renewed energy from the sudden coaching change. Sabonis exhibited it by arranging his own trip to Los Angeles. He was considered doubtful to play due to an illness that forced him to miss Thursday’s game, but he wanted to be there to show his commitment to Christie.

“I came here and walked right onto the field,” Sabonis said. “We are all focused on winning the game. But of course we know that we have not performed our best. And we have to do a better job. Me, as one of the leaders of the team, I had to make sure that it happens. We have to win all the games we can.”

Brown appeared to have a long future in Sacramento after leading the team to the 2023 playoffs and narrowly missing another playoff appearance in last season’s play-in tournament. He was rewarded with an offseason extension that runs through 2026/27 and gives him an additional $20MM in guaranteed money, but management quickly lost patience with the slow start. Offseason addition of DeMar DeRozan has not worked out as planned, and there was skepticism that the Kings could move up the standings with Brown at the helm.

Sabonis and Monk expressed shock at the sudden move, while De’Aaron Fox told McMenamin that he was notified “a minute before everyone else.” Fox also weighed in on the players’ role in the coaching change when asked if he felt any “pressure or guilt” over Brown’s fate.

“Any pressure or guilt? I mean, of course we all know the job we have.” Fox replied. “You can be traded at any time. Released. Cut. Fired. Whatever. I mean, I wouldn’t use the word ‘guilt.’ But that’s the nature of the job that we have. But I mean, that he obviously signed his extension this summer, we felt like we were going to be together a lot longer, but that’s the decision they made. But at the end of the day, he’s still getting paid, a big part of being an NBA player, being an NBA coach is that those things can happen, but these contracts are guaranteed.”

Although Brown’s firing seemed to come out of nowhere, there were already rumors of “waning confidence” from ownership even before he got the extension, Jake Fischer states in his latest Substack history. Sources tell Fischer that there were “internal disagreements” regarding the team’s starting lineup and the trade-off in playing time between Keon Ellis and Kevin Huerter.

Fischer reported in 2022 it Mark Jackson was the preferred owner candidate Vivek Ranadive before Brown was hired. Jackson was the head coach of the Warriors when Ranadive became a minority owner of that team, and multiple NBA sources have told Fischer that Ranadive appears to prefer having a former player in that role. That may explain why Christie was chosen to lead the team, although it is not clear if there is any commitment to him after the end of the season.