After Mike Brown and the Sacramento Kings established themselves as a playoff contender in the 2022-23 campaign, the hope was that they would be able to build off of that in the 2023-24 season. Instead, they struggled to find their footing, and they ultimately didn't make it out of the Play-In Tournament after they got eliminated by the New Orleans Pelicans.
The Kings have a lot of talent on their roster, and a bright coach in Brown who has helped put this team together. Questions over Brown's future with the team have begun to pop up as of late, though, and those rumors aren't going to go anywhere anytime soon after it was reported on Friday night that Sacramento and Brown have tabled their contract extension talks due to there being a big gap between the two sides in terms of where they stand.
Mike Brown's future with the Kings is up in the air
Over the past two seasons, Brown has helped the Kings escape the cellar of the Western Conference standings. While they finished as the third seed in the West last season with a 48-34 record, they had a 46-36 record this year, so it wasn't like they were marginally worse in Brown's second season. The problem was that the competition in the West was better, so that only resulted in the Kings earning the nine seed, where they were eventually eliminated by the Pelicans.
Even with that caveat, the Kings didn't meet expectations this season, and Brown ultimately has to shoulder a decent share of the blame. Despite having a deep roster led by stars in De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis, they simply could not put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Injuries certainly didn't help, but that can't be used as the sole excuse for their failures.
Brown still has one year on his deal, and while it seems like the Kings have an interest in keeping him around, it's not at a price that works for the veteran coach. So while he may not exactly be on the hot seat, Brown could find himself having a lot to prove as he enters the final year of his deal with Sacramento, assuming that he does remain the head coach of this team.
This is certainly a fluid situation, and while it looks like Brown will at least be sticking around for one more season, everything beyond that is up in the air. Much of that may depend on what happens in the 2024-25 campaign, so Brown could technically be coaching for his job. It will be worth seeing if these two sides return to the negotiating table at some point in the near future, but as of right now, it doesn't seem like a good bet to expect a new deal to get done this offseason.
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