According to multiple reports, the Sacramento Kings had a very difficult decision to make, and they didn’t want to make that call at all. There was controversy inside-and-out of their organization.

“Nobody wanted to fire Mike,” one Kings source said. “He’s a good coach. People here really care about him. Until the very last moment we were trying to make it work.”

Despite not wanting to fire him, General Manager Monte McNair, associate GM Wes Wilcox, Team President Matina Kolokotronis, and Governor Vivek Ranadivé were actively communicating throughout the team’s 0-5 home struggles, which led to the team firing him.

The night before the firing, everyone agreed to go to bed and decide in the morning. Sacramento allowed him to run practice and answer the media’s questions, but beyond that, they made their choice to fire him.

According to Lou Williams, while appearing on Fan Duel’s ‘Run It Back TV’ show, head coach Mike Brown wanted DeMar DeRozan to come off the bench.

This revelation comes after reports said there was tension in the locker room and disputes surrounding player’s roles. Fans were caught off guard by Williams’ bombshell.

“I was even hearing whispers that there was a situation where he might have asked, you know, or suggested that even DeMar DeRozan come off the bench, and those things proved to be severe missteps in an already challenging season, where it put the front office in a position where they had to side with either the all-star talent they had or depart ways with their former coach of the year who had a brand-new three-year extension.”

It went beyond Brown’s new role for DeRozan; many didn’t like how he handled De’Aaron Fox and constantly called him out for his failures.

“You know, so I’m hearing there was just some pushback from how De’Aaron Fox was continuously being singled out, you know, whether it was publicly or behind the scenes, where the players just didn’t agree with that sentiment.”

In the end, DeRozan has never been considered a bench player, which is why the players and he took issue with it. Before Brown’s firing, the team was 13-18.

According to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, owner Vivek Ranadive thought Mike Brown should have never been the head coach of the Sacramento Kings.

Back in 2022, Ranadive wanted to hire Mark Jackson over Brown. When Ranadive was a minority owner of the Golden State Warriors, Jackson was the current head coach. His stint with the organization wowed Ranadive so much that he wanted him over Brown.

The 67-year-old owner prefers to have a head coach who is a former player, which is why he has elevated Doug Christie to interim head coach. Christie has a chance to win the coaching job, per multiple reports.

Golden State has been a pool of potential head coaches for Ranadive. Coaches like Michael Malone, Luke Walton, and Alvin Gentry were all from the Warriors before having a stint as Sacramento’s head coach.

Sacramento has had eight head coaches in the last twelve years. Brown, who won Coach of the Year in his first season with the Kings and snapped their 17-year playoff drought, had an overall record of 107-89.