Kings general manager breaks long silence after Mike Brown’s firing and De’Aaron Fox trade
Forty days after the Sacramento Kings fired coach Mike Brown and three days after trading away franchise cornerstone De’Aaron Fox, one of the team’s top decision-makers addressed reporters and took questions about their roller coaster season.
General manager Monte McNair held a solo news conference Wednesday at Golden 1 Center and spoke about why the organization ‘s front office decided against speaking publicly about the firing of Brown, who was let go Dec. 27, and leaving it up to Kings players to answer media questions.
“I have nothing bad to say about Mike,” McNair said. “I respect everything he’s done. At the same time, we were trying to turn our season around. We were a month out from the trade deadline and we’ve got to figure out now, with an interim coach, how we’re going to turn this thing around. That was the primary focus.”
The Kings traded Fox, McNair said, after the team offered multiple contract extensions that Fox rebuked. He was traded Sunday in a three-team deal to the Spurs that landed Sacramento former Bulls All-Star Zach LaVine, three first-round picks and three second-round picks.
One of the first-round selections, though, will likely convert into a pair of second-round picks in 2026 and 2027 because it’s top-14 protected coming from the Charlotte Hornets. It only conveys should Charlotte make the playoffs — but the Hornets as of Wednesday were 12-35, the third-worst record in the NBA.
Critics of the trade have pointed to Sacramento not getting more premium picks from San Antonio, like their two unprotected first-round picks from the Atlanta Hawks in 2025 and 2027, and none of the Spurs promising young players like Stephon Castle or Devin Vassell.
“For us, it became clear that there was no pathway there for a long-term agreement” with Fox, McNair said. “That’s also why we’re here today.”
The Kings introduced LaVine introduced in a separate press conference shortly after McNair held his. The two-time All-Star is in the midst of a career season where he’s averaging 24.0 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He’s making a personal best 51% of his field goals and 44.6% of his 3-pointers while averaging 7.3 attempts per game.
“I appreciate everything from my time in Chicago go, but now that I’m here it’s time to take my career to the next step and continue that along. ... It’s always great to be a place where you’re wanted, and not everybody has an opportunity to have that. So I’m very thankful.”
There were multiple reports, including in the Athletic, signaling Fox was unhappy with the team’s handling of the Brown firing, which some believe played a role in Fox wanting an exit from Sacramento. Additionally, multiple reports said Fox asked the team to make defensive upgrades and depth additions to the roster to better compete with the top teams in the Western Conference, but reinforcements in those forms never came. The Kings added DeMar DeRozan over the summer, giving the team another option offensively but not the needed upgrades to the defense or rebounding.
Fox was asked about the situation last week in Philadelphia before his penultimate game in a Kings uniform. Fox deflected when asked if he disagreed with the way the team handled Brown’s firing and team’s lack of additions to the roster.
“I really won’t go into detail on any of that stuff,” Fox said Jan. 29.
Additionally, there was speculation outside the Kings’ organization that Fox pushed Brown out the door because the firing came the day after Brown criticized Fox in a postgame press conference Dec. 26 for fouling Pistons guard Jaden Ivey on a four-point play late in the game. Fox and his teammates pushed back on that idea at the time of the firing, but no Kings decision-maker had addressed it publicly.
“No, De’Aaron had nothing to do with the decision on the coaching change,” McNair said Wednesday. “No player did. And that was the decision that I made.”
Fox became eligible to sign a three-year contract extension over the summer, instead opting for a chance to earn All-NBA this season to qualify for a “super max” contract worth up to $345 million over five seasons. Fox said he had a preferred destination in mind and pointed to the reporting that said he wanted to go to San Antonio, where he could team up with rising big man Victor Wembanyama.
Brown’s firing was ‘to turn the season around,’ GM says
The Kings fired Brown 20 months after he was named the first ever unanimous coach of the year when he helped Sacramento to the No. 3 seed in the 2023 playoffs, ending an NBA record 16-season playoff drought. Brown was fired amid a five-game losing streak, all coming at home, despite posting the team’s first back-to-back winning seasons since 2004 to 2006.
The Kings fired Brown after giving him a three-year extension in July that came with a significant raise.
“Obviously we had high expectations, I think, coming into the season,” McNair said. “For a variety of reasons, we did start of with some success. Heading into December, we started hitting a skid, and then I think, ultimately, as we’re trying to figure out ways to turn the season around, a lot of different things were discussed. Ultimately the five-game losing streak at home and the Detroit loss, the next day, as we talked through it, that was — we felt we had a season that could be better. And that was the choice we made at that time.
“That was the thing that we could push to, and so far I think we’ve had some success there.”
The Kings as of Wednesday rank 18th in the defensive efficiency and seventh in offensive efficiency. They entered that evening’s home game against the Orlando Magic in the No. 8 seed in the NBA Western Conference at 25-24, and have stated their primary goal is to finish among the West’s top six seeds to avoid the play-in tournament. The Kings lost in the play-in last spring and missed the playoffs.
McNair was asked who definitively made the decision to fire Brown after the Athletic reported Jan. 2 that owner Vivek Ranadivé ultimately made the decision.
“Yeah, mine,” McNair said.
The Kings since firing Brown are 12-6 under interim coach Doug Christie, which included a seven-game winning streak from Dec. 30 to Jan. 12. The team is coming off a 2-4 road trip that included a win Monday over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first game since the Fox trade. LaVine is slated to make his Kings debut at home on Wednesday.
McNair during the conference pointed out multiple times the team was still considering options to upgrade the roster ahead of the trade deadline noon Thursday. Hours after McNair’s morning news conference, the Kings reportedly traded Sidy Cissoko, who was acquired in the Fox-LaVine trade, along with two second-round draft picks to the Washington Wizards for center Jonas Valanciunas.
McNair was asked to assess his performance as general manager given the team fired its head coach and traded away a face of the franchise after breaking the postseason drought in 2023. And he was asked if LaVine is going to have to deal with the same issues that Fox did regarding a supporting cast that lacked what the team needs defensively to win in the playoffs.
“I would say two things,” McNair said. “One is, from where we started to where we are, I think we’ve had a lot of success. We’re in our third straight winning season after (16 seasons) without. At the same time, yeah, we haven’t won enough for our expectations as they’ve gone up following our playoff year. And ultimately that all falls on me. And so, I’m tasked with getting us to the playoffs. And that’s what I keep trying to do. It’s up to you guys (the media), how good that’s been.”
This story was originally published February 5, 2025 at 11:25 AM.
