Mike Brown coached the Sacramento Kings to their first playoff appearance in 16 seasons a year ago and has won 94 games across two seasons — the last time the Kings did those things, Chris Webber and Brad Miller led the team in scoring.
Which is why it raised a few eyebrows when contract extension talks between Brown and the Kings broke off recently, but that turned out to be more of a pause. Friday night news broke that the Kings and Brown had agreed to a new deal, a story first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Brown — the 2022-2023 NBA Coach of the Year — gets a $4.5 million raise on his 2024-2025 contract and two new seasons at $8.5 million, [his agent Warren] LeGarie said.
The raise and extension is worth $30 million total over the three years, getting Brown to the number he wanted, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Brown earned this contract extension. In his first season in the big chair in Sacramento, Brown Brown led a much-improved Kings roster to 48 wins — snapping a 16-year playoff drought. Brown led the Kings to 46 wins this season, but in a deeper West that left them ninth and in the play-in (where they lost and did not advance). Sacramento’s offense regressed to close to the league average (13th), which reportedly bothered the front office and ownership.
However, what the Kings needed most was stability at coach. Part of what led to the Kings’ 16-year playoff drought was instability due to seemingly constant change — new coaches with new systems every couple of years. With Brown, the Kings have something that works and they needed to do what successful franchises do and lock down a successful coach. They did, and now the Kings can focus on roster upgrades to help them climb back up to the playoffs in a deep West.