Knicks Fans Beware? Why Mike Brown Didn’t Last in Sacramento

Knicks Fans Beware? Why Mike Brown Didn’t Last in Sacramento

for all great things, you know, that you’re talking about for Mike Brown, it ultimately didn’t end that great because he did get fired from Sacramento. And why did he get fired? Yeah, I I mean, first of all, the second season uh wasn’t nearly as good, right? Um the Kings in that second season, they um they lost a bunch of games to the worst teams in basketball. you know, they I think in that season they lost a game to Charlotte, they lost a game to Portland, they lost a game to Detroit, they lost a game to the Wizards. And when you’re looking at a team that had aspirations of winning 50 plus games, u and you come up with 46 and I can point to four or five games against the worst teams in basketball that you lost. Um, that’s really a tough pill to swallow, right? And that’s why they drop all the way down to what, ninth in the standings. and and they don’t make they’re in the playin, they don’t make the playoffs and all that stuff. Um I just think that there was a disconnect and to be honest with you, some of it is on the players. Um you know, you had Kevin Herder, uh you know, who who basically went to the All-Star weekend the year before and couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn, you know, as a as a three-point shooter at in the three-point contest. and then it really got in his head and he really had a tough go especially in the playoffs when they lost to Golden State in seven games um you know in the first year of Mike Brown. We call that here in Sacramento beam team one that’s when the beam was invented. So beam team two um you started to see that you know some of the practice uh like started to wear on some of the players. um some of the players started to get comfortable and let their personalities come out a little bit more and maybe some of those personalities weren’t exactly like 100% team oriented, right? And and so you had some of these little cracks start to form. Um but again, Mike practiced hard and and pushed the guys a lot. And so you get to that that summer between the the you know beam team two and beam team three and I I think you started to have some factions in the locker room. Uh guys that weren’t happy about their position, weren’t happy about their uh sort of their place in in Mike Brown’s hierarchy. Uh you know even guys like Malik Monk who was really really hoping to start. he was going into that off season as a free agent and you know he ended up getting his deal. Um but at the same time he got his deal he wanted to start and that’s not something Mike Brown wanted or was comfortable with. And you know for me it’s a little bit like what he’s going to face in in New York. Uh except for Jordan Clarkson understands he’s not going to start. You know, Jordan Clarkson understands that being a great sixman has a tremendous amount of value and you know, it it’s got him paid his entire career just like is getting Malik Monk paid. Um, so but there’s just like this little bits of friction here and there, a little bit of like some of the players hoping to go in and just a little bit of a stylistic change in the way that they’re uh, you know, they’re going into the next season. And you know, for Mike, he kept asking for the the one basic thing that that everybody here in Sacramento has been asking for for the last like five or six years, and that’s more length than athleticism at the wings. And you know, whether it was Kyle Kosma or John Collins rumors or Cam Johnson rumors, like the Kings were chasing these guys, but never ever got a deal done. And so you’re walking into seasons with, you know, just an undersized roster the whole time where, you know, Keegan Murray is playing the four and, you know, then you’re asking Keegan Murray to guard point guards one night and LeBron James the next night because you don’t have any other defenders. And so while Mike is trying to build up the the defensive acumen of the team, um especially in that second season there, you know, really the focus was defense defense. Then he ends up losing Jordy Fernandez as as his defensive coordinator. And not only that, but Jordy was his he was more than just a an assistant coach. He was um what do they call him? The he was the second in charge. He was associate head coach. Associate head coach. Yeah. Exactly. And so losing Jordy in that going into that second season too, an associate head coach does all kinds of things that you don’t even think about. Like Jordy Fernandez worked the sub patterns from the sidelines. So Mike’s coaching the team and Jord’s putting guys in and out of the game the whole time. Well, you take away Jordy from doing that and you know, Mike promoted Luke Lax. Uh he promoted Luke Ls to his defensive coordinator even though Lax had been an offensive guy both in Golden State and in Sacramento. Um, and there were just these little things that just weren’t setting right with that team and and unfortunately between, you know, not getting the pieces that they needed in the offseason. Um, going into the season with, you know, again, if you can’t find, if you can’t get a trade done for Cam Johnson, you miss out on a couple other players. The response was for the Kings to go out and sign uh do a sign and trade for Demard Rosen. Um, again, not exactly built for their offense, not exactly a defensive stalworth. Uh, it really just kind of set in motion something that you could kind of see happening. And and also during that off season, um, Mike had asked for, uh, a new contract. And, um, basically what had happened was when they signed Mike to his original deal, they gave him a three-year contract and they wanted a fourthyear team option. Um Mike and his agent demanded a fourthyear um mutual option and when coaching salary skyrocketed with the the Monty Williams contract and then all of the other coaches getting their contracts uh raised up, Mike was going into uh his third season. Um as number one, he opted out of his fourth season because that’s when he had to opt out. uh and he opted out because contracts had skyrocketed. And then he was able to negotiate a deal at, you know, a three-year deal where they tore up his third year in Sacramento and gave him a bump from like 5 million to 8.5 million, but also put incentives in that he could get up to 10 million bucks as a coach. Um, and it was a three-year deal. But in that negotiation, I think that’s where bad blood started. And uh you know like sometimes you pay a guy uh knowing that you know you might not keep him. And I was surprised that they you know if that’s how they felt they probably should have just fired him during the offseason and paid him out you know the 5 million they owed him. Uh but instead they gave him a three-year contract uh and then you know fired him 20some games into the season. uh by that point like look things were going wrong and you know I I can like honestly being here you’re watching the team play and they’re not playing up to their potential and at some point the the voice in the locker room you know they he wasn’t he wasn’t garnering the same uh connection with the players and I don’t know why it happened so quickly but I’ll also tell you like there were groups of players that loved Mike and groups of players that were hoping to move on from Mike And I don’t think they were pulling the right way. The team itself wasn’t pulling the right way and really made things awkward uh you know in general. And it’s why we get to the you know Mike Brown um getting getting let go. It started a chain reaction in Sacramento. This led to a lot of negativity like De’Arren Fox had told the team during the offseason um that he didn’t want to play for another coach in Sacramento. he wanted to play for Mike Brown and that if they wanted to move off of of Mike Brown during that off seasonason that they should trade him as well. Um so when they went in to to fire and they fired Mike um it was with the understanding that De’Arren Fox didn’t want to be there anymore if Mike wasn’t going to be there and so they instantly looked for a place for for De’Arren Fox to go. Um and and just one thing after another after another kind of played out to where that season, not only did the season go bad, but it’s really hurt the franchise and set them up on a dark path for the next couple of years, barring some some crazy luck or some uh some teams deciding to take on some of the contracts that they have that are now just bloated and and really difficult to move.

Why did Mike Brown get fired from the Sacramento Kings — and what does it mean for his future with the New York Knicks?

In this in-depth breakdown, we dive into the real reasons behind Brown’s shocking dismissal: from underwhelming results in his second season, to locker room friction, failed roster upgrades, and internal politics. Hear how player struggles (like Kevin Huerter), leadership conflicts (Malik Monk, De’Aaron Fox), and the loss of key staff (Jordy Fernandez) all played a role. Plus, find out how Brown’s demand for more wing length and defensive improvement clashed with Sacramento’s front office decisions — and why this might be a cautionary tale for Knicks fans.

🎯 Timestamps:
00:00 – Why Mike Brown Was Fired
00:47 – Kings’ Collapse & Missed Playoffs
01:31 – Locker Room Cracks & Player Discontent
02:25 – Malik Monk & Role Frustrations
03:22 – Roster Gaps: No Wing Help
04:12 – Loss of Jordy Fernandez
05:38 – DeRozan Signing Misfit
06:13 – Contract Drama & Fallout
07:52 – Fallout with De’Aaron Fox

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