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Mike Brown is the latest coach to get bit by NBA’s Surprise Season Curse

Published

1 year ago

December 29, 2024

Mike Brown is the latest coach to get bit by NBA’s Surprise Season Curse

Expectations are a dangerous thing.

Nobody knows that more than NBA coaches, and we had our latest example Friday when the Coach of the Year Curse came after Mike Brown. The Sacramento Kings deposed him as head coach on Friday, a little more than two years after taking over a 30-win team that had an NBA-record 16-season playoff drought and failing to lead them to a championship.

I kid … slightly. Arguably, there were reasons here, and the Kings front office knows more about what was happening behind the scenes than you or me. As near as anyone can tell, this was the front office’s call and not an impulsive Vivek Ranadivé Special, as our Sam Amick and Anthony Slater noted Saturday.

At a 10,000-foot level, there wasn’t a lot of difference between this year’s Kings and the Kings of the last two seasons. Sacramento had a positive scoring margin on the season (plus-1.2, not far off the plus-2.6 of 2022-23 or the plus-1.7 of 2023-24). If you strip out their bad fortune in late/close games (something that tends to be pretty random over larger samples), the Kings’ underlying data wasn’t that different from the 48- and 46-win seasons of the two preceding years.

Notably, they also were 16th in defense despite a seeming paucity of defensive talent on the roster, and they were 14th a year earlier despite similar shortcomings. If you’re going to blame the coach, you also have to explain how a team with Domantas Sabonis at center, no backup bigs of note and a 6-6 “power” forward managed to form a credible NBA defense. The game that got Brown fired was one he narrowly lost with Alex Len as his starting center.

On the other hand, the Kings had dropped to 13-18, including five straight home losses, after Thursday night’s collapse against Detroit. Brown’s postgame news conferences increasingly consisted of him imploring players to do the things they weren’t doing, and the underlying message to the attuned ear seemed to be that his message wasn’t traveling as well as it used to.

Thus, reasonable people can argue about whether Kangz gonna Kang, or if it’s more of a story about the team’s response to Brown’s message not resonating with key players the way he once did.

But as I alluded to, there’s a bigger story here, about the hidden danger of surprise seasons. If you’re wondering why the average job timespan of a Coach of the Year award winner is barely two years, look here, because we’re talking about two highly correlated groups — with the Coach of the Year often being the one whose team was the biggest surprise.

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Mike Brown’s final days with Kings: Disastrous play, tension with star and an awkward firing

Brown might have been a victim of his own success at some level, after the invigorating “Light The Beam” campaign in 2022-23 when the Kings unexpectedly won 48 games and grabbed the third seed in the West. It was a perfect storm of health, production, weakened opposition and vibes, and as such, it was always going to be difficult to repeat, much less exceed in future seasons. That became a bit more clear when a 44-win Golden State Warriors team beat them in seven games in the first round of the playoffs.

Unfortunately, the success likely shoved the Kings in a direction where the short term became too prioritized at the expense of bigger-picture roster building; they just weren’t talented enough to be thinking this way. I say “likely” since I don’t have the counterfactual of a 35-win Kings season in 2022-23, but the roster moves speak for themselves.

To review: Sacramento traded its 2023 first-rounder to generate enough cap room to do a renegotiate-and-extend deal for Sabonis rather than make a pick and use the space to add another player. The Sabonis deal still paid him richly in the out years (he makes $40.5 million this year), so it felt like a bit of a pyrrhic victory given his relatively limited flight risk. (Few contending teams have cap room, not everyone needs a center, Sabonis isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, etc.) The organizational “win” was locking in Sabonis, but that thought process made a lot more sense if it was a 60-win team in the first place.

Mike Brown had coached Domantas Sabonis in Sacramento since 2022. (John Jones / USA Today)

Similarly, the Kings extended Harrison Barnes rather than seek to get younger or use him in a sign-and-trade, traded two second-round picks for Chris Duarte and waived Neemias Queta to sign JaVale McGee. A critical scouting fail on Sasha Vezenkov also shot their midlevel exception into the sun.

A year later, after winning 46 games, they went a step further by trading Barnes, Duarte and draft capital for a 35-year-old DeMar DeRozan. A player known more for raising his team’s floor than its ceiling, DeRozan hasn’t totally fit in his 31 games, and his lack of size at the four is an obvious problem for a team that lacks length and athleticism up and down the roster.

Look, any of these decisions were at least quasi-defensible in a vacuum. In the aggregate, however, they paint a picture of a franchise getting a bit out over its skis. And now, that same organization likely feels the pressure of De’Aaron Fox looking at his future. That, and his potential free agency, as well as seeing a future cupboard in Sacramento that is slightly bare.

It’s a movie we’ve seen before. Success is a hell of a drug, but surprise success, in particular, can be real plot twist in the team-planning process.

Take Atlanta, for instance. The Hawks made the 2021 Eastern Conference finals and then spent two years mistakenly thinking they were on the cusp of contention. In reality, they were the apex of averageness, going 120-126 in the following three seasons and finishing ninth, eighth and 10th, respectively, with three playoff wins in those seasons. A reckless trade for Dejounte Murray and some rose-colored extensions painted them into a cap corner, one the Hawks only now are emerging from.

Examples from the wayback machine are abundant — 2013-14 Phoenix Suns, anyone? — but for more recent fare, consider a few examples: Would the Los Angeles Lakers have attacked their roster more proactively in the summer of 2023 if their 43-win team hadn’t made the Western Conference finals? Would the Portland Trail Blazers have thought more about breaking up the Damian Lillard–CJ McCollum backcourt if it weren’t for their own deep run in 2019? For that matter, will the Indiana Pacers end up regretting their own “lock it down” reaction to their Eastern Conference finals run in 2023, which yielded $350 million in contracts for Obi Toppin, Andrew Nembhard, Pascal Siakam and T.J. McConnell?

We can go on. The commonality for all of them (well, not Indiana … at least not yet) is that they never got any closer to their intended destination than they did in the surprise season and ended up churning through coaches and roster convulsions.

There is one other thread: Those teams couldn’t stick through whatever their plans were once things got hard. I think that’s because it was a revised, improvised plan to start, and that made it easier to shift to Plans B, C and X and start throwing things at the wall.

It takes a strong organization to survive that. The Miami Heat went through that in 2017 when they miraculously turned around an 11-30 start with a 30-11 second half and nearly made the playoffs. Miami’s offseason was loaded with bloated contracts for the role players who turned around their season, and the result was two years of mediocrity and a slog of digging their way out. Finally, the Heat landed Jimmy Butler, drafted Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro, found Duncan Robinson under a rock and pushed to the 2020 finals.

And in those two intervening disappointing seasons, with a combined record of 83-81, the thing they didn’t do was change coaches.

“What they did there is really hard to do,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said when I asked for his thoughts on Sacramento and Brown before Saturday’s Miami-Atlanta game. “If you’ve been losing for 15, 20 years since Rick Adelman was there, and to change the culture and make the playoffs — you stick with it. Some of our best moments have been when we lost or struggled with things and you all get in a room, and the organization basically says, ‘Figure it the F out; there are no changes.’

“This league is hard. You have to go through adversity together as an entire organization if you’re going to break through and get to the other side. But yeah, that sucks.”

The next question for the Kings — whether it’s Doug Christie or somebody else on the sideline — is whether they can course-correct effectively. The good news is that the basic ingredients of a half-decent, West Play-In Tournament-level team are there right now. The bad news is that the current group has a near-zero chance of being anything more than that.

With that last sentence, at least, hopefully we’ve reset the expectations to something more appropriate.

(Top photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

Related Topics:Featured NBA Sacramento Kings

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Deion Sanders mourns loss of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder: ‘One of my favorites’

Published

7 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Deion Sanders mourns loss of Colorado quarterback Dominiq Ponder: ‘One of my favorites’

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Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Dominiq Ponder died this weekend, the team’s head coach Deion Sanders confirmed on Sunday with a social media post.

“God please comfort the Ponder family, friends and loved ones,” Sanders wrote on social media. “Dom was one of my favorites! He was Loved, Respected & a Born Leader. Let’s pray for all that knew him & had the opportunity to be in his presence. Lord you’re receiving a good 1. Comfort us Lord Comfort us.”

Ponder was 23 years old.

Details of Ponder’s death are not yet known.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his team warm up before an NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, in Fort Worth, Texas. (Tony Gutierrez/AP Photo)

Ponder, a 6-foot-5, 200-pound signal caller, joined the Buffaloes and “Coach Prime’s” program in 2024 after spending time at Bethune-Cookman before making his way to Boulder.

Last season, Ponder played just two games for the Buffaloes while serving in his backup role. He recorded two rush attempts and one pass attempt.

The Opa Locka, Fla., native also received tribute from a fellow quarterback with the Buffaloes, Colton Allen.

Bethune-Cookman QB Dominiq Ponder takes a snap during the Wildcats’ spring game Saturday, April 22, 2023, at Daytona Stadium. (IMAGN)

“Dom, you were a blessing to so many people,” Allen wrote on Instagram. “You had a presence about you that just made everything better. You brought so much joy to me and everyone around you. I’m grateful for every lift, every practice, every rep, every conversation we got to share. I’ll carry those with me for the rest of my life.”

Ponder was going to be a part of Colorado’s spring practices, which are set to begin on Monday. It’s unknown if Sanders will postpone the start due to Ponder’s passing.

Ponder also received a tribute from the University of Central Florida.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders watches his players warm up before an NCAA college football game against Utah, Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (Tyler Tate/AP Photo)

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“Our prayers are with Dominiq and the Ponder family along with all in the Colorado football program,” the university’s football account on X wrote.

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Scott Thompson is a sports writer for Fox News Digital.

Sports

No. 2 UCLA women dominate rival USC to finish Big Ten play undefeated

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7 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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No. 2 UCLA women dominate rival USC to finish Big Ten play undefeated

Sunday was “Senior Night” for the USC women’s basketball team at Galen Center, but it was the other team’s seniors who stole the show.

Gabriela Jaquez scored 14 points, Kiki Rice had 11 points and four assists and Lauren Betts had 15 rebounds and five assists as UCLA wrapped up the regular season with a 73-50 victory over its rival and finished undefeated in conference play for the first time since going 18-0 in the Pac-10 in 1998-99 under Kathy Olivier.

Having already clinched the regular-season title, UCLA became the first team to navigate the Big Ten schedule without a loss since Maryland in 2014-15.

“These are two elite programs, we knew it would be different tonight, we knew they’d come with fire,” said UCLA coach Cori Close, who improved to 9-4 against the Trojans since counterpart Lindsay Gottlieb started at USC in 2021. “We knew we’d have to do it with our defense, our rebounding and by taking care of the ball.”

It was the Bruins’ 22nd consecutive win, one shy of the record they set last season. Since their lone loss to then-No. 4 Texas on Nov. 26 in Las Vegas, they have won by 20 or more points 17 times.

Ranked second in the nation in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls behind defending national champion Connecticut (30-0), the Bruins earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament in Indianapolis and got a bye into Friday’s quarterfinals.

Charlisse Leger-Walker, nicknamed “X-ray vision” by teammates, equaled her season high with 20 points for the Bruins (28-1, 18-0) while Gianna Kneepkens added 14 points and five assists.

“Anytime we play together we know we can win,” Leger-Walker said. “We did a good job looking into the scout. Every game we just think about going 1-0. People scouting us know that all five players on the court can score the ball.”

UCLA center Lauren Betts, left, controls the ball in front of USC forward Vivian Iwuchukwu during the first half Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA held USC to 27% shooting in the teams’ first meeting — a 34-point Bruins victory at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 3 behind Betts’ 18 points. It was USC’s most lopsided loss under coach Lindsay Gottlieb. On Sunday, USC shot 39% and was only three for 19 from three-point range.

“Going undefeated [in conference] is a great step in the right direction towards what we want to accomplish,” said Jaquez, who appreciated the flowers she received before the game from USC. “I love this rivalry. It’s super fun to play against them and it was nice that they honored us too.”

UCLA jumped out to a 14-4 lead in the first five minutes and carried a 19-11 advantage into the second quarter. The Bruins widened the gap to 18 points by halftime, holding the Trojans scoreless for the last 3:08.

USC (17-12, 9-9) opened the second half on an 11-2 run but gave up 14 second-chance points and allowed 22 offensive rebounds.

UCLA guard Kiki Rice, front, and forward Angela Dugalic celebrate as USC guard Kennedy Smith walks away.

“If we get more possessions than our opponent we’re most likely going to win,” Close said. “We didn’t allow one basket on an out-of-bounds play and they lead the conference in that.”

Freshman guard Jazzy Davidson, USC’s leading scorer, got into early foul trouble but still finished with 12 points. She was held to 10 points on four-for-15 shooting in the first meeting.

“It was a great crowd, we were in the fight but we didn’t rebound or shoot well enough,” Gottlieb said. “We wanted to keep them out of our paint. We swarmed Betts, double-teamed her and got it out of her hands but other people scored.”

Londynn Jones, who spent three seasons in Westwood (playing in 108 straight games) before transferring to USC for her senior year, was held to six points in the team’s first meeting and nine points (on four-of-10 shooting) in the rematch. The Trojans’ other senior, Kara Dunn, was held scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points.

“I love Londynn,” Close said. “We think she looks better in blue, but we love her and I told her that. I appreciate all she gave to our programs.”

Asked if this is the best team she has ever coached, Close had a one-word answer.

“Yes.”

Sports

Israeli national gymnastics team suspends all activities after Iranian counter-attack

Published

19 hours ago

March 1, 2026

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Israeli national gymnastics team suspends all activities after Iranian counter-attack

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Israel’s national gymnastics team has suspended all training and team activities amid the recent Iranian counter-attack on the country following the U.S.-assisted strikes on Iran.

The Israel Gymnastics Federation (IGF) provided a statement to Fox News Digital announcing the violence has caused “unavoidable disruptions.”

“The current security situation in our region has resulted in unavoidable disruptions to our regular training schedule and has created significant uncertainty regarding the national teams’ professional plans, particularly as we are at the outset of the international season,” the statement read.

“At this time, all training activities have been temporarily suspended, pending approval from the relevant authorities to safely resume operations. Naturally, the suspension of training and the closure of airspace are causing considerable stress and concern. However, the safety and well-being of our gymnasts and professional staff remain our highest priority. We sincerely hope for safer and calmer days ahead, when we can focus solely on sport.”

A source within the team told Fox News Digital on Saturday that the gymnasts have been moving between bomb shelters since Iran’s counterstrikes began.

Israel’s gymnastics team is considered one of nation’s strongest Olympic programs alongside its Judo and sailing teams. The team is only a week removed from a successful trip at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Germany, where the country’s star Artem Dolgopyat won the gold medal in floor gymnastics.

Now, the team will have to seek safety until the attacks are over.

The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to continue to shelter in place either in or near their residences as Iran continues to fire missiles at Israel.

Additionally, the embassy announced that due to the security situation, it would be closed on March 2, and did not give an estimate on when it would be reopening. The closure includes consular sections in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

The embassy also said it is “not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.” It noted that Ben Gurion Airport remains closed and there there are neither commercial nor charter flights operating from the airport.

On Friday, ahead of the launch of Operation Epic Fury, the embassy gave all non-essential workers permission to leave Israel, with reports that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged those looking to leave to do so as soon as possible.

Iranian airstrikes killed at least eight Israelis on Sunday as Tehran’s latest missile barrage landed just miles from Jerusalem.

The strikes landed in the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh. Initial reports said four people were killed when missiles landed in a residential area on Sunday, but that death toll rose to eight, according to Israel’s national emergency service.

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Iran’s military has carried out counterattacks against Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East after a joint U.S.-Israeli strike killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.

The strikes also killed several other top Iranian leaders, including the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports reporter for Fox News Digital covering critical political and cultural issues in sports, with an investigative lens. Jackson’s reporting has been cited in federal government actions related to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Associated Press and ESPN.com.