Finally it happened. On Sunday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Sacramento Kings have made the decision to name Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown as their next head coach. According to the report, Brown’s contract runs for four years.
Brown and Kings have been negotiating a deal in the past 24 hours, sources said. Brown has emerged as the focal point of the franchise search in recent days, and now he’s tasked with helping end the organization’s 16-year playoff drought.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 8, 2022
Brown was rumored to be Kings general manager Monte McNair’s favorite of potential coaches, and with good reason. He has been an NBA coach since 2000 and has served on the coaching staff of the San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. He is also the head coach of the Nigeria national basketball team.
Although he hasn’t been a head coach in a while, Brown is a former NBA Coach of the Year and helped the LeBron James-led Cavaliers reach the 2009 NBA Finals. Most notably, he helped the Cavs finish with the best record in the league and over 60 wins in the ’09 and ’10 seasons.
In six of his eight seasons as head coach, Brown coached his teams to the playoffs. In two of those seasons, he reached the conference finals. That accomplishment is something the front office and Kings faithful in Sacramento must ask of him if he is to revive his career as NBA head coach.