SACRAMENTO – Kings general manager Monte McNair said Wednesday that unmet expectations were behind the surprising decision to fire coach Mike Brown earlier this season.
Speaking to reporters for the first time since making the move nearly six weeks ago, McNair declined to get into specifics but said that the team’s lackluster start to the 2024-25 NBA season was the deciding factor in making a change.
“We had high expectations coming into the season for a variety of reasons,” McNair said. “We did start off with some success but heading into December started hitting a skid. Then ultimately, as we’re trying to find ways to turn the season around, a lot of different things were discussed. As we talked through it, we felt we had a season that could be better. That was the choice we made at that time.”
Brown, the unanimous NBA Coach of the Year in 2022-23 after helping the Kings end the longest playoff drought in league history, was let go after Sacramento had lost five consecutive games, including a heartbreaking 114-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 26 that ended when De’Aaron Fox fouled Jaden Ivey in the final seconds, leading to a four-point play.
Brown was fired the next day.
While the Kings have played better since interim coach Doug Christie took over, questions still remained over exactly why and how Brown was fired. He conducted practice the morning of his dismissal, addressed the media and was on his way to the airport to fly to a road game in Los Angeles when he was notified.
McNair said the decision to fire Brown was his and that there had been discussions about making such a move in the days leading up to the coaching change.
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“It was just the results of the season and specifically the way that we played in that homestand. We felt that we needed to do something,” McNair said. “The way that the last couple games of that homestand went solidified that.”
The decision to fire Brown came about six months after the Kings had rewarded the veteran coach with a $30 million extension that would have kept him with Sacramento through the 2026-27 season.
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“Coming off the last two seasons and the decision to extend Mike, we did not envision that this is how the season would go,” McNair said. “But all we can do is continue to deal with the information that we’re getting and make the best decision in each moment.”
The Kings have played well under interim coach Doug Christie and are 12-6 since the coaching change was made. They lost their first game on Christie’s watch, peeled off seven consecutive wins at one point and are in eighth place in the Western Conference heading into Wednesday night’s game against the Orlando Magic.
“A lot of what we’ve seen from Doug so far is what we hoped for,” McNair said.
