The Sacramento Kings fired third-year head coach Mike Brown on Friday, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Doug Christie is expected to be the Kings’ interim head coach, sources said. Christie has been an assistant with the Kings since 2021-22 and played in Sacramento for five of his 15 NBA seasons.
Brown’s firing comes as the Kings are mired in a five-game losing streak — their longest since January 2022 — with all five loses coming at home. Sacramento is 13-18 on the season, entering Friday three games back of earning a berth in a play-in game.
Sacramento has struggled to close out games this season, losing five games after holding the lead entering the fourth quarter. Only the Toronto Raptors have more such losses with seven, according to ESPN Research.
Brown won Coach of the Year in his first season in Sacramento in 2022-23, leading the Kings to a No. 1 seed before losing in seven games to the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. The Kings playoff appearance snapped a 16-season drought without a playoff berth for the Kings, the longest streak in NBA history.
Brown finishes his Kings tenure with a .549 win percentage, the fourth best by a head coach in franchise history.
Brown signed a three-year extension through 2027 with the Kings in June.
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