The Sacramento Kings are doubling down on head coach Mike Brown.
Literally.
Brown agreed to an extension that will more than double his salary from $4 million to $8.5 million for the 2024-25 season, his agent Warren LeGarie told ESPN.
The contract reportedly also adds two years of security at $8.5 million apiece to carry Brown through the 2026-27 season.
The timing is a bit strange considering that it comes one year after Brown led the Kings to a major breakthrough.
In his first year at the helm, Brown was named 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year after leading the Kings to 48 regular-season wins — their most since 2004-05 — and the end of a 16-year playoff drought.
For an encore, the Kings still were very good by their own two-decade-long standard of misery.
The Kings went 46-36 in the loaded Western Conference, settling for the No. 9 seed.
They beat the Warriors in the play-in tournament before they were bounced by the Pelicans in a win-or-go-home game.
Brown, 54, is a two-time Coach of the Year who also won the award during the first of his two stints leading the Cavaliers.
In between those stops, he briefly was the head coach of the Lakers.
It all adds up to a 441-286 career record.
The extension represents the middle ground between what the Kings were offering Brown ($7 million per year) and what he was seeking ($10 million per year) earlier this month, according to The Athletic.
The contract includes bonuses that could push it to Brown’s desired figure.
The two sides reportedly briefly halted negotiations before coming back to the table.
Brown’s contract is just the latest in a long line of recent big contracts for NBA coaches, including the Pistons’ Monty Williams, the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich, the Warriors’ Steve Kerr, the Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and the Clippers’ Ty Lue.
Brown has won four championship rings as an assistant coach (one with the Spurs and three with the Warriors).
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