Steve Kerr shocked by Mike Brown’s firing from Sacramento Kings
LOS ANGELES — The NBA’s coaching carousel took its first turn of the 2024-25 season on Friday, and it hit close to home for Steve Kerr and the Warriors.
The Sacramento Kings fired Mike Brown, who served as an assistant coach for the Warriors from 2016 to 2022. Like several coaches around the league, Kerr was stunned to hear the news.
“When you think about where that franchise was before Mike got there and where they’ve been the last couple years, the job he and his staff have done — it’s just really shocking,” Kerr said before Golden State’s game against the Clippers. “I know they’ve been in a tough spell, but this is the NBA. We all go through tough spells.”
Brown won the 2023 NBA Coach of the Year award by unanimous vote after he helped Sacramento break its 17-year postseason drought. Less than two years later, he’s out of a job.
The Kings fired Brown six months into a three-year, $25.5 million contract extension. Sacramento is 13-18 on the season and has lost 12 of its last 17 games — a slide that sank to its nadir with a brutal last-second loss to the Pistons on Thursday night.
In Brown’s last game coaching the Kings, his team botched its situational defense in the waning moments of an epic collapse. Up three points, Brown instructed his team to foul before a Detroit player could shoot a 3, and hug shooters around the arc knowing that a two-pointer couldn’t harm them. Instead, star point guard De’Aaron Fox played help defense and had to close out in the corner, fouling Jaden Ivey for the game-winning four-point play.
Brown learned of his firing after he led Sacramento’s practice and as he was heading to the airport for the Kings’ Saturday game against the Lakers. Instead, Doug Christie will serve as interim head coach for that game and going forward. He’s the Kings’ seventh coach since Vivek Ranadive bought the team in 2013.
Nuggets coach Mike Malone, one of those seven former coaches, blasted the firing.
“No class, no balls,” Malone said.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle opened his pregame press conference with a statement, calling Brown one of the “standard bearers for integrity for our profession.”
Brown coached under Kerr with the Warriors for six seasons, a span that included three NBA championships. He got credited with much of the Warriors’ defensive evolution, including holding players accountable with nightly report cards.
Kerr and Brown are close friends and talked on the phone after the Kings made their decision. Brown coached Kerr in San Antonio as an assistant and they’ve known each other for decades.
“It’s not easy, this job,” Kerr said. “This business is pretty rough. I feel terribly for Mike today.”
Recent Coach of the Year winners Brown (2023), Monty Williams (2022), Nick Nurse (2020), Mike Budenholzer (2019), and Dwane Casey (2018) each got fired — often soon after winning the award. That’s five of the eight Coaches of the Year since Kerr won the honor in 2016.
Kerr is the third longest tenured active coach, behind only Erik Spoelstra and Gregg Popovich.
“We all kind of know this is the nature of this business,” Kerr said. “I just know that I feel very fortunate to work in an organization that really values continuity and that allows our team and our staff and our group to get through the rough patches. Because every team in the league is going to face these rough stretches like we’re going through right now. I know I’m probably the exception rather than the rule when it comes to organizational support and continuity. That doesn’t mean it’s going to last forever, but it means I’m very lucky to coach here and work for this organization.”
Injury report
– Both Steph Curry and Draymond Green are out against the Clippers. Curry is managing lingering knee issues and may not play in both ends of back-to-backs as long as the ailment persists. Green, meanwhile, is listed as out with a low back contusion.
– The Warriors play the Suns at 5 p.m. at the Chase Center on Saturday; Curry and Green are likely to return then for the quick turnaround.
– Gary Payton II (calf strain) will be re-evaluated in a week, per the team.
– Clippers star Kawhi Leonard has yet to make his season debut. The Athletic reported that the Clippers are targeting Jan. 4 for his return from a nagging knee injury.