Kings slammed for their handling of Mike Brown firing
Oct 27, 2023; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown looks on during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
The Sacramento Kings are taking heat for the circumstances surrounding their firing of Mike Brown.
Sacramento made the surprising decision on Friday to fire their head coach Brown after just two-and-a-half seasons in charge. Assistant coach Doug Christie is now reportedly set to take over as the Kings’ interim coach.
Matt George of KXTV in Sacramento reported an unfortunate detail about the firing. George says that the Kings fired Brown right before boarding a flight to Los Angeles for a game against the Lakers the next day. Brown had just run a full team practice and spent 15 minutes speaking to the media … and was only then informed of his termination.
As a result, the Kings were ripped on social media for their perceived unprofessionalism with the move. Take a look at some of the criticisms.
Billion dollar franchises being super unprofessional in very obvious and public ways will never not be pitiful https://t.co/F1zEIOXz2n
— Robert Flom (@RichHomieFlom) December 27, 2024
Bad teams stay bad because of bad ownership. https://t.co/DaNEDnL8Ck
— Barry (@BarryOnHere) December 27, 2024
Sports are a business, but how you choose to run that business says everything about you as a person. And this is as classless as it gets.
Definitely won’t make people eager to work for you, either. https://t.co/kQmzu8pyEd
— Gabrielle Starr (@gfstarr1) December 27, 2024
This is an awful look for the Kings. https://t.co/dqoZDqSPyD
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 27, 2024
Incredibly bad business https://t.co/y5iCJI0sGe
— Sean Davis (@Sean_Davi) December 27, 2024
The Kings have had a lousy season with a record of 13-18 and have especially struggled with their defense and with close-game situations. But the firing of Brown, who had overseen a major culture shift since taking over, comes as an absolute stunner. Brown was the NBA Coach of the Year in 2023, having led Sacramento to their first division title in 20 years and their first playoff appearance in 17 years. He also won 46 games last season and posted an overall record of 107-88 (.549) as Kings head coach.
But none of that was able to stop Brown from being scapegoated for a bad first two months for Sacramento this season. NBA head coaching is clearly becoming an increasingly thankless job, and after a brief reprieve, it seems the dysfunction that has plagued the Kings throughout most of owner Vivek Ranadive’s tenure is now back in a big way.