Kings fire Mike Brown ahead of final showdown of season with Lakers

No matter how much things change, they always remain the same. The Kings, losers of five games in a row with two of those coming against the Lakers, made the decision to fire Mike Brown on Friday.

Firing the coach who brought them back to the postseason for the first time in nearly two decades just over a year ago is a bold move!

Brown won Coach of the Year for the 2022-23 season after Sacramento returned to the postseason for the first time in 17 years. Last season, the Kings fell short in the play-in, but the franchise responded by giving him a big pay raise and an extension through the 2026-27 season.

Six months later, the Kings made the move to fire him, albeit during a pretty rough period. The team is 13-18 on the season, has lost five in a row and, after starting 8-6, has lost 12 of their last 17 games.

The way they fired him is also very Kings, and in all the bad ways.

The losing streak has also sparked trade rumors about De’Aaron Fox. Those rumors have continued to grow with each passing defeat with even the Lakers linked to him most recently.

Replacing Brown in the interim will be Doug Christie, both a former Laker and a former King during the early 2000s battles with the purple and gold.

Naturally, this comes just ahead of the Kings’ final game of the season against the Lakers, the sixth time the two sides will meet in 2024.

Will Sacramento have a bit of a bounce back after seeing their head coach fired? Or are things so dire with the Kings right now that this won’t matter?

You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.