NBA: Sacramento Kings fire coach Mike Brown

Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown shouts instructions from the bench during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, Dec. 16, 2024. The Nuggets won 130-129. (AP Photo/Randall Benton)

The Sacramento Kings have fired coach Mike Brown less than halfway through his third season with the team mired in a five-game losing streak, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because the firing hadn’t been announced by the team. ESPN first reported the firing.

Brown won NBA Coach of the Year in his first season in 2022-23, when he helped Sacramento end the longest playoff drought in NBA history at 16 seasons.

READ: Mike Brown hopes Kings can climb NBA mountain

But Sacramento lost in the play-in tournament last year and was off to a 13-18 start this season, leading to the move to fire Brown about six months after he agreed to a contract extension through the 2026-27 season.

The Kings have lost an NBA-worst nine games this season after leading in the fourth quarter with the worst one coming in Brown’s final game as coach Thursday night against Detroit.

Sacramento led by 10 points with less than three minutes to play only to collapse down the stretch. Jaden Ivey converted a four-point play with 3 seconds left when he made a 3-pointer in the right corner and was fouled by De’Aaron Fox. That gave the Pistons a 114-113 win, leaving the Kings in 12th place in the Western Conference.

The Kings came into the season with hopes of finishing in the top six in the West and avoiding the play-in tournament after acquiring DeMar DeRozan in a sign-and-trade deal over the summer to add to a core that featured Fox, Domanta Sabonis and Keegan Murray.

Fox, who is in the second-to-last year of his five-year, $163 million contract, declined to sign an extension in the offseason. He said on a podcast with Draymond Green earlier this month that he wanted to be on a team that could “compete at a high level.”

READ: NBA: Kings agree to contract extension with coach Mike Brown

Sacramento has been far from that this season, thanks in large part to an NBA-worst 3-11 record in games decided by five points or fewer. Brown publicly criticized Fox for his role in the game-winning play Thursday night, saying he should have been closer to Ivey instead of committing a foul on a close out.

“You should be hugged up to your man at the 3-point line,” Brown said. “Everybody should, and why there was a closeout by Fox, I’m not sure. I got to go back and watch the tape. But for sure 100% we told our guys, can’t give up a 3, can’t give up a 3, can’t give up a 3, stay on the high side, stay on the high side.”

Brown has a 107-88 record in two-plus seasons in Sacramento with a winning record in both of his full seasons. Rick Adelman is the only other coach to post a winning record in a full season since the Kings moved to Sacramento

Brown previously had two stints as coach in Cleveland and spent one-plus season as Lakers coach. He has a 455-304 record and has made the playoffs in seven of his nine full seasons. He won Coach of the Year twice, also getting the award in Cleveland in 2008-09.