Is the beam back on in Sac-Town?

The 2024-2025 season has not started great for the Sacramento Kings, through the first thirty-one games of the season they were 13-18 in the midst of a losing streak.

With thirteen of the eighteen losses on the season coming within the clutch, in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter where the score was within five points, they decided to make a controversial change, firing head coach Mike Brown, who had led them to the playoffs in 2023, ending their 17-year drought which culminated with him becoming the first ever unanimous Coach of the Year award winner.

The firing came on Dec. 27 and garnered shocked and appalled reactions from throughout the NBA and media stating the Kings’ were using Mike Brown as a scapegoat for their poor performance this season.

Mike Malone, current Nuggets head coach and former Kings’ head coach (2013-14), who Kings owner Vivek Ranadive fired in Dec. 2014 said the firing was done with “no class” and many coaches across the NBA have echoed similar sentiments including Rick Carlisle, Steve Kerr, and Jamahl Mosley.

During Brown’s tenure as Kings’ head coach, he led them to a 107-88 record across two and a half seasons, a seven-game series against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, and led the Kings to their first winning seasons since the 2005-06 season.

The firing became even more controversial when it was announced immediately after a day of practice before they boarded a flight to Los Angeles to play a game against the Lakers the very next day.

After the firing, Sacramento announced that Doug Christie would become the interim head coach of the Kings and they went out against the Lakers and lost but since the firing of Mike Brown, the Kings have changed.

They boast an impressive 7-2 record since Brown’s firing, which includes a seven-game win streak that began after their loss to the Lakers and only ended Jan. 15 with a loss to the Bucks in which Giannis Antetokounmpo provided his 50th career triple-double. That was a streak of seventeen calendar days without a loss, half of the first month of 2025.

This win streak has had a key, Domantas Sabonis, the 6-foot-10 forward has been the center of the offense, averaging 18.8 points, 15.9 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game since the firing of Mike Brown.

This win streak has been instrumental to the Kings as they now sit as the No. 9 seed in the Western Conference, just two games back from the No. 6 seed Dallas Mavericks and 4.5 games back from the No. 4 seed Denver Nuggets.

Before the firing of Brown the Kings were the No. 12 seed in the West, 3.5 games back from the play-in and 5.5 games back from the No. 6 seed. But under Christie, the Kings have seemed to be more open with their passing leading to higher-quality buckets.

During this win streak, the Kings are averaging three more assists per game and have seen a 5% improvement in their three-point shooting.

They have also improved in an area we mentioned the struggled, the clutch.

Since the leadership change they have played in four games in the clutch winning them all, completely reversing the narrative and statistics that showed the team was not efficient or productive in the clutch by hitting major shots and manufacturing major stops by a defense that has greatly stepped up when they have been needed during the win streak.

The win streak has ended but the Kings' vibes have completely shifted from despair to hope, sitting in a play-in spot within striking distance of the playoffs with 44 games left to be played and an arena that is now filled with energy and anticipation at every second of basketball unfolding in front of them. With one of the most electric stadium atmospheres in the NBA, the Sacramento faithful will be with this team at every step for the rest of the season.

From the first tip to lighting the beam there will be reverberations through the city of Sacramento as they are hungry for their first playoff series win since April of 2004.

This team, led by Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox is ready to fight, and come April expect to see them in the playoffs once more to possibly break an over 20 year playoff series-winning drought.

Massimo Manfra is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email mgm6116@psu.edu.