Report: De’Aaron Fox had nothing to do with Mike Brown’s firing

Report: De’Aaron Fox had nothing to do with Mike Brown’s firing

Six months ago, one year after being the only unanimous Coach of the Year award winner in NBA History while snapping the franchise’s near-two-decade-long postseason-less streak, the Sacramento Kings rewarded head coach Mike Brown with a three-year extension.

Last week, the organization inexplicably canned him during a stretch where they lost 12 of 17. Plenty of NBA coaches and fans around the league expressed their displeasure with the move, given how much he’s changed their culture and the franchise’s trajectory in such a short time.

Speculation arose after whether it was De’Aaron Fox‘s fault because he was fired mere hours after calling out Fox postgame because of a botched closeout that cost them a win.

Though according to a recent report from Sam Amick of The Athletic, Fox wasn’t involved with the decision.

“All this time later, Fox is still facing speculation — both within the league and in the media — that he played a pivotal part in the decision,” the report read. “Yet, according to team and league sources, he did not. And since the Kings haven’t held a news conference to discuss such matters, with Ranadivé the one who should take accountability for the choice rather than general manager Monte McNair, the rumor has lived on amid all this organizational silence. As if Fox’s situation wasn’t sensitive enough already, with strong indications that his long-term future in Sacramento is in serious peril, it appears the handling of the coaching change has only made matters worse.

“When the Kings fired Brown on Friday, letting him conduct practice and media duties before informing him of the decision via phone as he drove to the airport for the team’s road trip, there was no shortage of social media sleuths who assumed that the franchise guard was at fault. Not only was Fox’s frustration with his Kings existence already well known, but he had been the last one seen speaking to Brown in any substantive way after practice — and before that final call from the team’s front office was made. … Fox has defended himself in recent days, both on X and in an interview with ESPN. League sources confirmed his stance, with Brown himself known to believe that Fox had nothing to do with the decision and that Ranadivé was the driving force behind it.“

The reporting surrounding this debacle has been very strange. For one, it was reported from ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that nobody really wanted him fired. That clearly wasn’t the case because, well, he was fired. If they were “trying to make it work,” they could’ve let him coach, you know, more than THIRTY-ONE games after giving him a $30 million extension.

Shelburne also reported that the Kings inquired about several players before firing Brown, including Zach LaVine, Brandon Ingram, Cameron Johnson and Kyle Kuzma. They made it seem like they had to fire Brown as a last-ditch effort to save the season when that was far from the case. Those aforementioned players (outside of Johnson, maybe), wouldn’t really help solve Sacramento’s biggest issue (defense) anyway.

This is how bad organizations stay bad. Brown may have been harsh during a few notable postgame pressers, but he preached accountability. He may have lost the locker room, which it’s nearly impossible to get back as a coach. But there’s also not another clear solution on the horizon; even if they do, he may get fired way too soon because of how dysfunctional the Kings really are.

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