The Knicks and the Spurs are about to start what should be an epic NBA Finals. It will pit three former Sacramento Kings against each other, with Mike Brown coaching the Knicks and De'Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes on the Knicks. But Brown is ready to take his former players down.
Mike Brown will see a couple familiar faces on the other sideline in the NBA Finals.
— Kirsten Moran-Kellar (@kirstenlizmoran) June 1, 2026
The former Kings head coach joked about facing De'Aaron Fox and Harrison Barnes with the Spurs:
"They definitely want to beat me and I want to kick their a**."
Brown also praised the veteran… pic.twitter.com/uB5DR4v8vz
For Kings' fans, this is an odd finals to watch. A recent former coach and two recent former players are in the mix for a title. There are probably a few Sactown faithful who are annoyed by all of this, while others will find catharsis in this series and a chance to move on from past mistakes.
Despite getting Sacramento to the playoffs for the first time in 17 years, the Kings fired Brown. He was subsequently picked up by the Knicks as their new head coach. Now, Brown is coaching the Knicks to their first finals appearance since 1999. It's a huge moment for him.
On the other side of the equation are Fox and Barnes, both of whom played for the Kings during Brown's run. They were part of the Sacramento roster that made the franchise's brief return to the playoffs. Barnes was traded shortly after that, while Fox departed after Brown's firing.
Brown will give no quarter to his former players
Now, Brown will coach the Knicks against Fox and Barnes, who are both playing for the Spurs. And their former head coach has made it very clear that he's looking forward to going to war against them. That level of competition can only make this series between two great teams even better.
During a recent press conference, Brown made a joke about seeing Fox and Barnes on the court in the finals. Part of the comment was him wanting to kick their butts while they want to kick his. While he said it in a joking way, there's also some truth to that, as both sides want this championship badly.
Just because these three used to be on the same team doesn't mean they're going to take it easy on each other. In fact, they might go even a little harder. At the same time, he also praised the veteran leadership his former players bring to a Spurs team that is overall quite young.
If nothing else, sharing court together in the NBA Finals, even on opposite teams, will be a big moment for all of them. It would have been nice if they had been able to do this together on the Kings, but it will still be great to see former Kings do so well.
Add us as a preferred source on Google