It was a feel good story once Doug Christie became the interim head coach of the Sacramento Kings. The 54-year-old was a vital part of the team as a player in the early 2000s, including in 2002, when they fell one win shy of reaching the NBA Finals. The Kings started off Christie’s coaching tenure playing rejuvenated basketball and winning games. Their season ended with a dud though after being eliminated from the Play-In Tournament. Will Doug Christie have the interim tag removed and be the head coach of the Kings next season?
The Kings Have A Doug Christie Decision On Their Hands
Kings See Season End On Wednesday
Sacramento saw their season come to a conclusion on Wednesday. They lost in the 9-10 game in the Play-In Tournament to the Dallas Mavericks by the score of 120-106. During the regular season, the Kings went 40-42.
On December 27, the Kings fired the 2022-23 Coach of the Year, Mike Brown. The team was just 13-18 at the time. Taking his place at the helm was Christie, in what was his first taste at being the head coach of an NBA team.
Sacramento got off to a roaring start with Christie manning the sideline. They lost his debut to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Kings followed that up though with seven straight wins, and 10 victories in 11 outings. A 13-18 record improved to 23-20.
That momentum dissipated rapidly though. The Kings went just 17-22 the rest of the way (17-23 if you count the play-in game). It didn’t help that star center Domantas Sabonis missed nine games in March, in which they went 3-6.
It also didn’t help that star point guard De’Aaron Fox requested, and was granted a trade to the San Antonio Spurs. While the Kings at least received a quality player in the deal (Zach LaVine), they went 16-19 after the trade (including the play-in loss).
Christie Hoping To Remain Sacramento’s Head Coach
Christie spoke with the media after Wednesday’s loss. He made it fairly evident that he wants to remain the Kings head coach. Christie said,
“This is where I want to be. I need to finish what I started, and that’s the only reason I ever stepped onto the sideline from where I was at initially. I had to exorcise some demons for myself.”
Perhaps the demons he is talking about is during his playing days when the Kings had great teams, but could never reach the NBA Finals. Nonetheless, Christie finished his rookie year as a head coach at 27-25 (including play-in loss). That’s better than what the Kings did with Brown this season, but Christie’s early success couldn’t be sustained.
Whether he is brought back may depend on what Sacramento does with their now vacant general manager role. Soon after the play-in defeat, the team parted ways with now former GM Monte McNair. Bringing in a GM from another organization may hurt Christie’s chances of being retained.
This is the second straight year that the Kings were eliminated in the Play-In Tournament. In 2022-23, Sacramento ended a 16-year postseason drought by reaching the playoffs.
Photo credit: © John Hefti-Imagn Images
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