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\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t help that star center Domantas Sabonis<\/a> missed nine games in March, in which they went 3-6.<\/p>\n It also didn\u2019t help that star point guard De\u2019Aaron Fox<\/a> 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<\/a>), they went 16-19 after the trade (including the play-in loss).<\/p>\n Christie spoke with the media after Wednesday\u2019s loss. He made it fairly evident that he wants to remain the Kings head coach. Christie said,<\/p>\n \u201cThis is where I want to be. I need to finish what I started, and that\u2019s the only reason I ever stepped onto the sideline from where I was at initially. I had to exorcise some demons for myself.\u201d<\/p>\nChristie Hoping To Remain Sacramento\u2019s Head Coach<\/h3>\n