After a tough 2024-2025 season filled with few ups and mostly downs, Doug Christie is going into his first full season as the Sacramento Kings' head coach. And, for the first time in a long time, a Kings' head coach actually seems positive about the franchise's front office.
During his 15-year career as a player, Christie spent five seasons with the Kings and, more recently, four seasons as a coach. As such, he knows a thing or two about the NBA. Particularly, he's more than a little familiar with how dysfunctional the Kings' front office can be and the impact that has.
It's well-known around the league that Kings' owner Vivek Ranadive gets almost irresponsibly involved with the day-to-day operations of the team. That means the success of a head coach hinges on their ability to work with him and the front office.
To be frank, the head coach's relationship with Vivek is actually a bigger deciding factor in their continued employment than some might want to admit.
That's a big part of why Mike Brown was terminated so abruptly last season. His relationship with the front office, particularly Ranadive, was likely strained by the slow start to the 2024-2025 season. His firing probably wasn't the right choice, but it wasn't a surprising choice for the Kings' front office.
Christie is looking to change things
As part of the ongoing training camp media blitz, Matt George asked Doug Christie about his current relationship with the front office. Much to the surprise of many, he talked about how positive that relationship already is, particularly with the new general manager, Scott Perry.
I asked Doug Christie today about his relationship with Scott Perry and the new Sacramento Kings front office.
— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) October 4, 2025
Doug opened up about how much their relationship means to him, how he hasn't seen this in Sacramento since he was a player, and feels like it's a blessing from his mom. pic.twitter.com/oIBXUxn1hp
Christie talked about how Perry and the rest of his crew trust him to do his job and that they believe in his vision for the team. Based on what Doug said, there is an actual positive relationship between him and the front office, something that hasn't been there before.
One of the more telling comments was when Christie talked about the apparent difficulties with the previous front office. He didn't mention any names, but the implication was that Mike Brown didn't get along with them. That's not a surprise in the least.
The problem is that it's hard to build a winning team when the head coach and the front office are at odds with each other. Now that there is a spirit of cooperation and trust between them, Sacramento can hopefully become a contender and fun to watch again.