As the Kings began to slide down the Western Conference standings over the past several weeks, the front office contemplated making smaller trades “just to change things up,” and also discussed larger deals involving Bulls wing Zach LaVine, Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, Nets guard Cam Thomas, and Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma, league sources tell Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
According to Shelburne, the Kings consulted with former head coach Mike Brown on whether to make roster or coaching staff changes prior to parting ways with the 2023 Coach of the Year.
“Nobody wanted to fire Mike,” one Kings source told Shelburne. “He’s a good coach. People here really care about him. Until the very last moment we were trying to make it work.”
Sources tell Shelburne that general manager Monte McNair, assistant GM Wes Wilcox, team president Matina Kolokotronis and owner Vivek Ranadive had “several calls and meetings” to discuss Brown’s future with the organization during Sacramento’s recent 0-5 homestand. McNair ultimately called Brown to inform him of the decision as Brown was driving to the airport to board a team flight to L.A. — the timing and execution of the move drew criticism from around the NBA.
After speaking to Brown, McNair and Wilcox called De’Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan and Domantas Sabonis to let them know, but none were consulted beforehand, Shelburne reports.
Shelburne also confirms a report from The Athletic stating that Kings players had grown weary of Brown publicly bashing the team in post-game press conferences.
For what it’s worth, Marc Stein writes that it’s a “struggle to find anyone around the league” who thinks the firing of Brown was justified (Substack link).
Here’s more on the Kings:
- There has been some speculation that Fox may have been unhappy with Brown, in part because of the way the veteran coach criticized him for committing a disastrous foul in the closing seconds of Thursday’s loss to Detroit, but the former All-Star tells Shelburne he enjoys being coached hard and was on good terms with Brown. “I feel like there’s this perception that people thought that we were at odds,” Fox says. “You can ask anybody in this organization: me and Mike have never even had an argument. We could disagree with something. We talked about it and it was gone.”
- According to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, there have been “grumblings in NBA circles” suggesting that Fox will ask to be traded before the February 6 deadline. With that in mind, Pincus comes up with a hypothetical deal that sees Fox land with the Rockets.
- Rookie guard Devin Carter made his NBA G League debut with the Stockton Kings on Saturday and was recalled prior to Sunday’s matchup with the Lakers, though he didn’t end up playing in what would have been a back-to-back (Twitter link via Sean Cunningham of Fox 40 Sacramento). Still, it’s obviously a positive development, as Carter is inching closer to making his NBA regular season debut following offseason shoulder surgery.
Pincus’ proposal: Rockets get Fox, Lyles, McDermott; Kings receive Sheppard, Whitmore, Jeff Green, Landale, Tate, Rockets 2028 and 2030 unprotected 1sts, 2027 swap with max(Rockets, Nets), 2031 swap of min(Kings, Spurs) with Rockets and create TPEs of 9.2 and 2.1
Fox is not available
Counter offer
Derozan and Huerter for Rockets package, Kings don’t want draft capital
funny?
For those 2 you will not get anything back in draft picks. Neither are having good years.
This might be your worst trade scenario ever. Why TF would Houston want DeRozan? Why would Fox not be available? He had a chance to sign with Sac and passed. They are not going to lose him for nothing.
It must be killing you that the Rockets are good. I love it!
Leave the bot alone.
Pretty sure the trade proposal was tongue in cheek. Also that makes no sense, plenty of players have passed up extensions like that. He’ll make way more of he makes an all nba team
Orl Hou or Spurs
Id be surprised if it wasn’t one of those 3 if he truly gets to the market~ Id bet Spurs outta the 3 with Keldon/Tre being the main salary match
I could see the spurs doing an offer with some draft picks too.
If Kings players didn’t like Brown pointing out that they were playing like crap, then they probably shouldn’t play like crap.
Lmao not entirely wrong but they also don’t get to set the line up and choose who plays in crunch time. Brown had been trying to fit square blocks into round holes all year. And when his decisions put the team in poor positions, instead of taking accountability of those decisions he just deflected blame to his guys.
Brown had to go and it’s crazy to me that nobody wants to admit that.
This. ThisThisThis. Brown isn’t a bad coach, but he has terrible habits of overcoaching and then undercoaching at turns. It’s like having Frank Vogel and Doc Rivers in the same coach, and not in a good way. As a lifelong Cavs fan, I knew the ride would derail at some point.
His biggest issue has always been consistency. Without fail. Even with similar rosters, he can generate wildly different results year-over-year. It showed up in a big way with the addition (negative addition?) of DeRozan, who was not remotely a fit for the Kings, and the way he decided not to trust Keon Ellis more, then overcompensated when it became clear Heurter wasn’t working.
Brown’s the kind of guy who can jump-start a turnaround or excel as an assistant coach, but then flatline in a longer/larger role.
i thought the kings turned it around as an organization smh
“Nobody wanted to fire Mike.” So then why did you fire him lol. What were these other options you cycled through before deciding to let him go? Ask the players to not stink? Convince Mike to quit on his own? Make no sense
Watch a kings game before making statements about the team lmao
Fox is basically the Rockets team average right now. Why do they need another of the same? For what it would cost to get him, might as well continue developing the current roster and see if another couple guys blow up.
Looks like the Kangz are alive and well. The fans deserve better.
Kangz gonna kangz. Been a fan for over 30 years. You get used to the ineptitude.
Kangz
Yep
Pelicans should have traded Zion to the Knicks when they had the chance.
They called Ramona Shelburne for “Damage Control”…Brown coached Fox hard and publicly told the media. Fox wants a Supermax Contract and getting called out by Brown is messing with his money. It easier for Fox to play selfish now and stack his numbers up and try to make All NBA.
If they don’t win he definitely isn’t getting all NBA. Even when they do win and he is top 10 in the NBA in scoring he doesn’t get all NBA.
Fox to Portland for DeAndre Ayton
I’d like to get Scoot too, but I don’t know if he would fit.
Arranging picks and/or players (if we get Scoot, add a protected first). Scoot could be great, but his trade value now has descended from the draft.