A Year After Abrupt Dismissal, Mike Brown Comments On Stint With Sacramento Kings

Around this time last year, Mike Brown was unceremoniously dismissed by the Sacramento Kings after the team got off to a 13–18 start. At the time, Brown's abrupt exit was met by fierce responses from his fellow coaches, who decried the Kings' treatment of the two-time Coach of the Year.

Fast forward to December 2025, and Brown is at the helm of the New York Knicks' 23–9 record. With the success that Brown has achieved in the Big Apple, does he still look back at his stint with the Kings?

Apparently, Brown does have Sacramento on his mind from time to time. Just not in the way that you'd expect.

"I enjoyed my time there. The only thing I'm thinking about now is... I was just talking with my wife about tickets," Brown told reporters earlier this week. "When we play in Sacramento, and it's getting close, they [my family] want to see their friends."

Brown then used the platform of the media availability to issue an advisory to the New York schools where his children are studying.

"People in Scarsdale Middle School and Scarsdale High School, they [my kids] may miss school," Brown said, drawing laughter from reporters.

If anything, the hilarity in Brown's tone is a graceful response to the whirlwind of events that unfolded on December 27, 2024. That day, Brown had run a practice session with the Kings and spoke with reporters afterward. Just 15 minutes after his session with the media, Brown got a phone call before he boarded the team plane bound for Los Angeles. 

The former All-Star Game head coach was instructed not to board the plane. Brown had been given the pink slip.

He would reenter the limelight in July 2025 when the Knicks announced that they were hiring him to replace Tom Thibodeau. Implementing a longer rotation and a new philosophy on offense, Brown was able to establish the Knicks as a strong playoff contender in the first two months of the 2025–26 season, even steering the team to its first-ever championship win in the Emirates NBA Cup.

And now, Brown won't have to wait that long to take his kids back to the West Coast. The Knicks will be visiting the Kings on January 14, which is perhaps the reason why Brown and his wife have been discussing the logistics of a trip to California.

This will be the first time that Brown will be facing his former team this season, and while he may have pleasant things to say in the media availability prior to the game, he'll have nothing but a Knicks win on his mind once the ball tips off.