The unceremonious firing of former head coach Mike Brown was the beginning of a series of unfortunate, but avoidable, events for the Sacramento Kings. In his first return to Golden 1 Center since then, Brown was looking for a big win, but the Kings just couldn't let him have it.
When Brown was brought in as the Kings' head coach, he had already been named the NBA Coach of the Year once for his work with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2009. In case you're wondering, he received that honor again in 2023 for coaching the Kings to the Playoffs for the first time in 16 years.
After that, the Kings did reasonably well in the following season, though they missed the Playoffs and got knocked out of the Play-In Tournament. He was then fired two days after Christmas in the 2024-2025 season after Kings got off to a 13 and 18 start to the season.
If you think that sounds hypocritical since a year later the Kings record was eight and 30, yet the current head coach is still employed, you would be right. Essentially, Brown was the scapegoat for the problems directly caused by co-owner Vivek Ranadive and the front office at the time.
In this specific situation, call Brown's return to Sacramento a comeback
After relaxing for the rest of the 2024-2025 season, Brown was hired as the head coach of the New York Knicks. Things are going pretty well. They are the second place team in the Eastern Conference with a record of 25 and 15, and won the NBA Cup this season. Not too shabby.
Mike Brown gets a nice ovation when introduced in his return to Sacramento. pic.twitter.com/AKmdKJRjVg
— Brenden Nunes (@BrendenNunesNBA) January 15, 2026
Unfortunately for Brown, one of those losses is now to the Kings. His Knicks dropped an "L" to one of the worst teams in the league by a score of 112 to 101. Yes, Jalen Brunson left early with an injury, but the Knicks don't exactly have a shortage of talented players on their team. It could have been a win.
More than anything, this was Brown's first game back in Sacramento since he was fired. It was an opportunity to walk in and show the Kings what they lost by firing him. Instead, the Knicks coughed up an unexepected loss that extended Sacramento's home win streak to three games.
Yes, it's only one loss. The Knicks are still NBA Cup champions, have a far better record than Sacramento, and are way more likely to see the postseason than the Kings. Still, Brown probably wanted this win in Golden 1 Center pretty badly.