Firing Mike Brown made things worse for the Kings in every possible way

Over the past 20 years, the Sacramento Kings have made some truly terrible decisions. The worst by far remains the firing of head coach Mike Brown. If you compare where the Kings were at a year ago by game 44 last season to where they are this season, it's impossible to ignore the differences.

Already a Coach of the Year recipient, Mike Brown joined the Kings at a rough time. It had been 16 years since their last playoff appearance and the franchise was floundering. He took the reigns of a team led on the court by De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, and laid out his strategy.

In his first season as head coach, Sacramento made the playoffs. They got bounced in the first round by the Warriors and Draymond Green tried to cave Sabonis's chest in with a stomp. Regardless, the Kings were in the postseason and the Brown picked up another Coach of the Year Award for his work.

The following season saw the Kings make the Play-In Tournament in a stacked Western Conference. They beat the Warriors in the first Play-In game, then lost to the Pelicans in the next, ending their season. After they got off to a slow start in the 2024-2025 season, Brown was fired.

The Kings are worse off now than they were under Mike Brown

At this point, it's become crystal clear that Brown was scapegoat for the failures of the front office and ownership. If you need to see numbers, just look at where the Kings were a year ago at game 44 compared to where they are now. It's like you're reviewing the stats for two different franchises.

Sacramento's win/loss record is worse. Their offense, defense, and net rating have all fallen dramatically. At game 44 last season, they were 9th in the Western Conference. This season, the Kings sitting at 14th in the West, barely staying out of 15th thanks to the even worse Pelicans.

To be fair, Brown was gone 31 games into last season, and Doug Christie was already head coach. But the other side of that was De'Aaron Fox was the point guard for the Kings at game 44 and playing relatively well for the team. There was still some of that Beam Team magic in the air.

Whether you want to credit Brown for the Kings' success or blame him for their failures, you cannot deny that the team is worse off now that it was a year ago. Scott Perry's rebuild has to yield positive results, or Sactown fans will be waiting another 15 years for a playoff appearance.