The Kings concluded their coaching search with Monday’s announcement that they have hired Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown as their new head coach. Fans are eager to find out who Brown will add to his coaching staff, but they will probably have to wait a while.
Kings general manager Monte McNair won’t schedule an introductory news conference for Brown until the Warriors finish their season. A source with knowledge of the situation told The Sacramento Bee the Kings will also wait until then to make any announcements regarding Brown’s coaching staff.
Brown served as acting head coach of the Warriors in a 134-95 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals Wednesday. Brown has filled that role each of the past two games with head coach Steve Kerr under NBA health and safety protocols after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Warriors lead the series 3-2. Game 6 will be played Friday night at Chase Center in San Francisco. The Kings might have to wait as long as five weeks for Brown if the Warriors advance to the Western Conference finals and go on to reach the NBA Finals, which will be held June 1-19.
Brown, 52, has a 347-216 (.616) record with six playoff appearances in eight seasons as a head coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers. He went to the NBA Finals as a head coach with the Cavaliers and served as an assistant for NBA championship teams with the San Antonio Spurs (2003) and Warriors (2017, 2018).
Brown coached the Nigerian men’s national team at the Olympics last summer in Japan. That team, which upset Team USA 90-87 in an exhibition game July 10 in Las Vegas, included Kings forward Chimezie Metu and former Stockton Kings guard Gabe Vincent, a Modesto native who now plays for the Miami Heat.
On a recent episode of “The Deuce and Mo Podcast,” Andscape’s Marc J. Spears suggested Brown could look to his Nigerian national team staff to find assistants for his new job in Sacramento. That staff included Jordi Fernandez, who has been an assistant with the Denver Nuggets since 2016, and Luke Loucks, who served as a player development coach for the Warriors from 2017-21.
