It's been almost a week since the Sacramento Kings dismissed Mike Brown from his seat as the team's head coach. Since then, people have been trying to figure out what led to the Kings making this decision.
Yes, the Kings have been a major disappointment, starting the season 15-19 and 12th in the Western Conference after spending the offseason making win-now moves. But this roster is clearly very flawed and Brown has been the franchise's best coach since Rick Adelman. So, it felt like there was some outside variable contributing to all of this.
Naturally, this led to the blame being pointed at the team's star guard, De'Aaron Fox. Prior to Brown's firing, there were rumors circulating about Fox potentially wanting out of Sacramento. On top of that, Brown was very critical of Fox in the team's last game with Brown as their coach. And to make things worse, Fox was the last person seen having a notable conversation with Brown before he was given the boot.
All this, and the long history of stars getting coaches fired, gave berth to the notion that Fox was at least semi-responsible for Brown's firing. However, recent reporting suggests that this couldn't be further from the truth.
De'Aaron Fox did not get Mike Brown fired
On Thursday, NBA Insider Sam Amick published an article at The Athletic titled, "Could Kings’ poor handling of Mike Brown’s firing push De’Aaron Fox out the door?" Here is an excerpt from that article (a well-written piece of journalism that you should definitely check out if you have a chance):
"De’Aaron Fox did not get Mike Brown fired. And someone not named De’Aaron Fox needs to say it. It has been nearly a week since the Kings made the controversial decision to jettison their well-respected coach, with interim coach Doug Christie winning his second game in three tries on Wednesday night and owner Vivek Ranadivé finally returning to his courtside seat at Golden 1 Center after being MIA for Monday’s win over the Dallas Mavericks," Amick wrote.
He continued, "All this time later, Fox is still facing speculation — both within the league and in the media — that he played a pivotal part in the decision. Yet, according to team and league sources, he did not. And since the Kings haven’t held a news conference to discuss such matters, with Ranadivé the one who should take accountability for the choice rather than general manager Monte McNair, the rumor has lived on amid all this organizational silence."
Since the firing, Fox has commented on multiple occasions (once on Twitter and once on ESPN) that he had nothing to do with the firing of Brown. And it looks like he wasn't just making these statements to save face. He truly had nothing to do with the firing of Brown.
Fox is not a coach killer, and not only is Kings' ownership/front office not doing anything to defend Fox, it feels like they are actively using him as their scapegoat here. After all, why would you let your star take this much criticism for something if it wasn't really their fault.
As Amick mentions, this whole fiasco could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. After seeing how they handled this, Fox may officially decide he no longer wants to be with the Kings and that he wants a trade.
If that happens, it'll be yet another chapter in the tragic story that is the Sacramento Kings.