Will interim Kings coach Doug Christie change starting lineup after firing of Mike Brown?

Jason Anderson, The Sacramento Bee on Dec 28, 2024

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Choosing a starting lineup will be one of Doug Christie’s first decisions as interim coach of the Sacramento Kings.

Christie was named interim coach Friday when head coach Mike Brown was fired 31 games into his third season in Sacramento. The move came as the Kings prepared to board a flight to Southern California to play the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday at Crypto.com Arena.

Christie will probably take a close look at the shooting guard position before deciding whether to start Malik Monk, Kevin Huerter or Keon Ellis.

The Kings (13-18) are in desperate need of a win after losing five in a row and 12 of their last 17. They are 12th in the Western Conference, three games out of the final play-in spot, after blowing a 19-point lead in a 114-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday to cap an 0-5 homestand.

The Lakers (17-13) are fifth in the West, 2 1/2 games behind the Dallas Mavericks for the No. 4 seed. The Lakers have won four of their last five games, including a thrilling 115-113 win over the Golden State Warriors on Christmas Day.

The Kings have gone 4-7 since Monk replaced Huerter as the team’s starting shooting guard. Christie could stick with Monk, go back to Huerter or turn to Ellis.

The current lineup of De’Aaron Fox, Monk, DeMar DeRozan, Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis has a 112.7 offensive rating, a 111.8 defensive rating and a +0.9 net rating in 235 minutes.

The lineup of Fox, Huerter, DeRozan, Murray and Sabonis has a 114.9 offensive rating, a 106.3 defensive rating and a +8.6 net rating in 181 minutes.

The lineup of Fox, Ellis, DeRozan, Murray and Sabonis has a 133.7 offensive rating, a 106.5 defensive rating and a +27.2 net rating in 54 minutes.

Brown acknowledged that he was considering a change following Friday’s practice at the team’s Golden 1 Center practice facility, but he was fired before the team boarded its flight to Los Angeles.

“I’ve got to give thought to it because the reality of it is, before I made the change, we were 6-6 and we lost a couple of games early on when we started finding our way,” Brown said. “It’s something that I’m thinking about, but I want to make sure that I don’t overreact.

“It’s getting close to us having to put up or shut up, so I can’t wait too long because it is my job to continue to search and continue to find the right combinations to put out there. Not saying it’s this guy’s fault or that guy’s fault, but sometimes mixing it up, the pieces fit better in terms of the rotation, so at the end of the day it’s something that’s in my head, but I want to make sure I’m not overreacting.”