Than that Kings It began to slide down the Western Conference standings in recent weeks. The front office considered smaller deals “just to add variety” and also discussed larger deals Bulls wing Zach LaVine, Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram, networks guard Cam ThomasAnd wizard forward Kyle KuzmaLeague sources tell ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.

According to Shelburne, the Kings have consulted with the former head coach Mike Brown about whether changes should be made to the squad or coaching staff before parting ways with the 2023 coach of the year.

“Nobody wanted to fire Mike” a Kings source told Shelburne. “He is a good coach. The people here really care about him. Until the very last moment we tried to make it work.”

Sources tell Shelburne that the general manager Monte McNairdeputy GM Wes WilcoxTeam President Matina Kolokotronis and owner Vivek Ranadive had “multiple calls and meetings” to discuss Brown’s future with the organization during Sacramento’s recent 0-5 home game. McNair eventually called Brown to inform him of the decision as Brown was driving to the airport to board a team flight to LA – the timing and execution of the move drew criticism throughout the NBA.

After speaking with Brown, McNair and Wilcox called De’Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan And Domantas Sabonis to inform them about it, but no one was consulted beforehand, Shelburne reports.

Shelburne also confirms a report from The Athletic that Kings players were fed up with Brown publicly denigrating the team in postgame press conferences.

Marc Stein writes that it is “a struggle to find anyone in the league” who believes firing Brown was justified (Substack link).

Here’s more about the Kings:

• There was some speculation that Fox may have been unhappy with Brown, including because of the way the veteran coach criticized him for committing a catastrophic foul in the final seconds of Thursday’s loss to Detroit, but the Former All-Star tells Shelburne that he enjoyed being coached hard and had a good relationship with Brown. “I feel like people get the impression that we’re at oddssays Fox. “You can ask anyone in this organization: Me and Mike have never had a fight. We might disagree with something. We talked about it and it went away.”
• According to Bleacher Report’s Eric Pincus, there were “murmurs in NBA circles” indicating that Fox would request a trade before the Feb. 6 deadline. With this in mind, Pincus comes up with a hypothetical deal involving Fox Rockets.
• Rookie guard Devin Carter made his NBA G League debut with the Stockton Kings on Saturday and was recalled before Sunday’s game against the Lakers, although he ended up not playing in what would have been a back-to-back game (Twitter- Link via Fox’s Sean Cunningham). 40 Sacramento). Still, it’s obviously a positive development as Carter inches closer to making his NBA regular season debut after offseason shoulder surgery.