On December 28, Beijing time, according to Shams, the Kings will part ways with coach Mike Brown, and then, The Athletic's Slater also issued a document confirming that the Kings have fired Brown. The Kings brought in DeRozan this season, but since the start of the season, the Kings have only played a 13-18 record, ranking only 12th in the West, and Brown, as the head coach, was forced to step down. Assistant coach Christie is expected to be interim head coach.

Shams also said that the Kings fired Mike Brown after suffering a five-game losing streak (losing 12 of their last 17 games) and that they have lost 13 crucial games this season, the most in the league. Brown led the Kings back to the playoffs in 2022-23, breaking the Kings' 17-year playoff streak and earning him the title of "Coach of the Year." It was also the second time in Brown's career that he was named the best coach, having won the award when he coached the Cavaliers in 2008-09.

Mike Brown, 54, has coached three NBA teams as head coach, with two seasons with the Lakers, six with the Cavaliers and three with the Kings. To date, Brown has coached 758 regular-season games with a 454-304 winning rate, a 59.9 percent winning rate, and has coached 90 playoff games with a 50-40 winning percentage, a 55.6 percent winning rate.

During his three seasons at the helm of the Kings, he went 107-88 in the regular season with a 54.9 percent winning percentage and 3-4 in the playoffs with a 42.9 percent winning rate. Subsequently, the Kings team reporter posted a picture of Brown chatting privately with Fox earlier, and speculated that this might be Brown saying goodbye to Fox.

The Kings fired Brown before the team flew to Los Angeles, and he had just finished training with the team and was interviewed by the media for 15 minutes. Mike Brown signed a three-year contract extension with the Kings in June until 2027. Just over 6 months later, he was fired.

The stats show that the Kings rank 9th in offensive efficiency, 16th in defensive efficiency and 15th in net efficiency this season.