Kings ‘Were Trying To Make It Work’ With Mike Brown ‘Until Very Last Moment’

The decision by the Sacramento Kings to fire Mike Brown appears to have been a controversial one both within their franchise and outside of it.

“Nobody wanted to fire Mike,” one Kings source said. “He’s a good coach. People here really care about him. Until the very last moment we were trying to make it work.”

The Kings allowed Brown to run the film session and practice on Friday before informing him of their decision to part ways.

General manager Monte McNair convened several calls and meetings with associate GM Wes Wilcox, team president Matina Kolokotronis and governor Vivek Ranadive throughout the Kings’ 0-5 homestand, sources said. That group discussed Brown’s status again Thursday evening after their loss to the Detroit Pistons and decided to sleep on it before a Friday call led to a decision. The Kings did not seek input from De’Aaron Fox or Domantas Sabonis before firing Brown.

Fox also contends he and Brown had a good relationship and he didn’t want him fired.

“I feel like there’s this perception that people thought that we were at odds,” Fox told ESPN. “You can ask anybody in this organization: me and Mike have never even had an argument. We could disagree with something. We talked about it and it was gone.”