Brown returns to Sacramento, reflecting on a tenure that ignited the Kings' offense and secured a Coach of the Year award before his new NBA Finals pursuit.
The 10-30 Sacramento Kings will host superstar point guard Jalen Brunson and the Eastern Conference's No. 2 seeded New York Knicks on Wednesday night at Golden 1 Center, welcoming home an extraordinarily impactful component of their 2022-23 group in the process.
When the ball is tipped at center court to begin the contest, it will mark Mike Brown's first time returning to Sacramento since taking the job as New York's lead strategist this past offseason, a bittersweet moment for the franchise.
Prior to the game, Brown was asked about his time spent as Sacramento's head coach from 2022-2024 and what he'd taken away from the experience by CBS Sacramento's Jake Gadon.
"Every day you feel like you're learning, whether you're learning from something good or something bad," Brown shared with Gadon on Tuesday night.
"But there are a lot of stuff I learned," Brown continued.
"Trying to figure out different types of problems we had. Trying to enhance whatever we had that was good here. There's just a tremendous lateral growth that I went through here. Not just on the floor, but out in the community, too. I really enjoyed being out in the community and getting to know the people out there. That was a lot of fun as well."
Brown's tenure with the Kings, while short, brought about some of the best basketball the franchise had played in roughly 20 years.
With star point guard De'Aaron Fox running the show in the 2022-23 campaign, Brown's run-and-gun, shoot-at-will offensive system dominated. Sacramento led the NBA in scoring with 120.7 points and instantly became one of the greatest offensive teams in league history. Brown was rewarded for his efforts when he took home Coach of the Year honors for the second time in his career.
The Kings punched their ticket to the 2023 postseason as the Western Conference's No. 3 seed with a 48-34 record, but were unfortunately upset in the first round by Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors in seven games.
After an unsuccessful Play-In Tournament bid in 2024 and a putrid beginning to the 2024-25 regular season, Brown was relieved of his duties as Kings head coach on Dec. 27, 2024.
Now as the Knicks' head coach, the energetic play-caller has a real chance to lead a talented group to an NBA Finals Run in a decidedly weaker Eastern Conference. With that being said, the Kings still aim to hand the Brown and New York their 15th loss on the season.
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