With the Sacramento Kings riding another losing streak, all eyes are on head coach Doug Christie. The team has a record of 12 and 33 in large part due to Christie's choices. In his recent media availability, Doug seemed like he might actually be ready to accept responsibility and make changes.
Kings head coach Doug Christie says he needs to be better following 3rd straight loss, the second half defensive collapse to the Toronto Raptors tonight and the impact of Dylan Cardwell. pic.twitter.com/dJxBEkhOxy
— Sean Cunningham (@SeanCunningham) January 22, 2026
When anyone puts a ranked list of the current NBA head coaches together, Christie isn't in last place. He's usually in the bottom third of the pack, but he isn't the worst. Considering how the season is going right now, that may be the best thing you can say about his coaching.
Nothing is going right in Sacramento this season. There have certainly been standout players and performances, but they just can't seem to consistently coalesce as a team. Part of that has to do with Christie's defense-first approach and his inability to put a coherent offense together.
To be fair to Doug, he inherited some of these problems from the previous front office, which did a terrible job constructing the roster. There's only so much a new head coach can do to fix things without several major trades happening. Still, that doesn't excuse his mistakes and inability to pivot.
Christie may finally be opening up to changing strategies with the Kings
Sacramento recently faced off against the Raptors. After a great first half, the Kings collapsed both defensively and offensively in the third quarter, ultimately losing the game. In his post-loss media time, Christie talked about how he personally needed to be better.
No one is going to argue that defense is incredibly important. A basketball team generates overwhelming offense from lockdown defense. At the same time, you cannot expect these athletes to play against type. Christie keeps trying to force this team to be something it's not.
When the Kings lost to the Heat the night before, Christie was quick to publicly call out Zach LaVine for his terrible defense. The problem is that LaVine has never played good defense in his 13 season career. He's not going to become the DPOY just because his coach tells him to.
Eventually, trades will happen, the rebuild will be complete, and the Kings will hopefully be in a better place. Until then, Christie needs to take a step back from the situation and ask himself if his approach is working or if he needs to try something different. If not, he might find himself unemployed.