The Kings have already had a busy offseason, trading for DeMar DeRozan and convincing Sixth Man stud Malik Monk to return to California's capital.
The most critical and important move that the team brass made was rewarding Mike Brown with a lucrative three-year contract extension that could net the head coach a cool $30 million.
While there’s no doubting the value of having guys like DeRozan and Monk on the roster, none of it really matters much if you don’t have a coach to make it all work.
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Brown is that guy, or at least that’s the way general manager Monte McNair views it.
“We had our best defensive year (in 2023-24) in a long time, I know that’s big to him,” McNair said during Monday’s Summer League game between the Kings and Utah Jazz. “He just does such a great job of knowing when to push, when to give a hug and just instill confidence in these guys.”
A two-time NBA Coach of the Year, including in 2023 when he helped the Kings end a record 16-year playoff drought, Brown is easily one of the primary factors behind Sacramento’s move from an NBA doormat to a team banging on the doors trying to become a regular and consistent playoff contender.
The Kings have gone 94-70 in the two seasons under Brown’s tutelage, marking the franchise’s first back-to-back 40-win seasons since 2005 and 2006.
NBA
In doing so, Brown has helped transform Sacramento from a team that players went to primarily for the money to one where players believe they have a chance earn a big pay day and have legitimate chances of playing in the playoffs on a regular basis.
“The coach is a big part of that,” McNair said. "Mike does a great job, him and his staff. The other thing, these players want to win. We’ve always said the number one thing is we win, guys will want to stay, guys will want to come here. We’ve seen that with guys. Trey Lyles and Alex Len and Malik and on and on down the line with these guys that want to continue to build what we’re doing here in Sacramento.
“We got a lot of ways to go. We don’t want to just lose in the first round like we did two years ago. We want to keep advancing in the playoffs. But that’s going to start with 82 (games) and putting ourselves in the best position to do that. And then we’re going to have to go toe-to-toe with somebody good in the West in every round.”
The Kings found that out the hard way last season.
They won 46 games in the 2023-24 NBA season, two fewer than they did in 2022-23. Yet they fell from the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference to the No. 9 seed. They beat the Golden State Warriors in the first-round of the play-in tournament before getting knocked out by the New Orleans Pelicans.
McNair hopes that the Kings learned a lesson from it all.
“I think it was really good for our group after losing in Game 7 in our own building (in 2023) to come in and beat (the Warriors) in the play-in,” McNair said. “At the same time New Orleans had our number last year and that’s another we’re going to have to figure out. That’s what we’re doing, that’s what we’re doing in the offseason, that’s what we’re going to be doing in training camp and that’s what we’re going to be doing during the season.”
And they’ll be doing it with Brown still steering the ship.
That, in itself, bodes well for the Kings moving forward.