May 1: Christie has formally been announced as Sacramento’s permanent head coach, the Kings announced today in a press release (Twitter link via James Ham of ESPN 1320).
“After careful consideration, I am excited to announce Doug Christie as the next head coach of the Sacramento Kings,” said GM Scott Perry. “I’ve known Doug a long time and have been impressed with his leadership, presence, and ability to connect deeply with his players.
“He embodies the core values we believe in — toughness, discipline, professionalism, a defensive mindset, and a selfless, team-oriented approach on offense. Our goal is to support him fully and help set the stage for his long-term success. We’re excited to move forward with Doug as our leader.”
April 29: The Kings will remove the interim tag from Doug Christie and make him their permanent head coach, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports that the two sides are finalizing the details of a multiyear contract.
Formerly an assistant coach under Mike Brown, Christie was elevated to head coach in December following Brown’s dismissal and led Sacramento to a 27-24 record following a 13-18 start.
As Charania notes, the Kings went 13-10 in clutch-time games under Christie after posting a 6-13 mark in those contests under Brown early in the season.
A former NBA shooting guard, Christie spent five of his 15 seasons as a player in Sacramento and was employed as a color commentator for Kings games before being hired by the franchise as an assistant during the 2021 offseason.
Christie, who initially served under Luke Walton, remained in his role as an assistant when the club parted ways with Walton and promoted Alvin Gentry to replace him during the 2021/22 season, and again when the Kings hired Brown in 2022.
This is Christie’s first stint as an NBA head coach, though he had previously gained a little experience in that role as a Kings assistant — he coached the team in December 2021 when Gentry missed time due to COVID-19 and later coached Sacramento’s Summer League team in July 2024.
After winning 20 of their first 31 games under Christie, the Kings lost 13 of their last 20 and were eliminated in the play-in tournament by a depleted Mavericks team, costing them a shot at a playoff berth.
That underwhelming finish to the season led to some speculation that the team might launch a full-fledged coaching search, but team owner Vivek Ranadive is said to be a fan of Christie, and reporting in the wake of Scott Perry‘s hiring as Sacramento’s new general manager indicated that the interim coach was well-positioned to hang onto the job.
According to Charania, Christie is expected to revamp his coaching staff this offseason after having inherited Brown’s assistants in the winter.
I can still remember the conf finals
When rigged nba/refs helped lakers advance over doug’s kings
It was SO bad lol … I remember watching it and just being amazed at how lopsided it felt as a neutral observer.
That’s probably why Shaq hated Bill Walton. Remember Walton announcing the game. What’s going on here?
It wasn’t that long ago that his wife was walking him around with a dog leash on.
I don’t know how any player could respect him as an authority figure.
A dog leash as opposed to…a cat leash? Lol. It’s a leash. Not exactly deserving much respect yourself, tough guy.
Stanning for a dominatrix fetishist my man? Lololololol
I’m sure sex is hilarious to people who’ve never done it lololol
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Doesn’t really matter who the coach is. Kings are stuck in the middle with nowhere to go but down. Another rebuild coming soon. Too bad you can’t fire the owner.
Obviously no respectable head coach would want the job so there isn’t much of a search to be done.
The most perfect “I’m just cashing a paycheck” head coach job in USA pro sports gotta be the Kings HC.
They should move the Kings to San Jose, Sacramento is cursed.
I’ll make an easy prediction. Christie will last no more than two years before he gets fired. Scott Perry will have a similar timeline. The Kings will remain a mediocre, play-in team. Ranadive will blame everyone but himself.
This is the best job Doug Christie will ever get.
It’s amazing how suddenly this franchise crashed.
If he could, does Vivek keep Mike Brown? How about De’Aron Fox?
Christie has a great marriage. If the make sabonis play the 4 they can improve. Get a real big to play with him.
Three team trade, Kings send a first and a second and get DeAndre Ayton and Dalano Banton
Sabonis, DeM DeR, Valanciunas
To >>>>>> Knicks
Towns, Bridges, Kolek
To >>>>>> Kings
I’m a Knicks fan and hate that deal.
Kings trade for Ben Simmons
Has to be a 2 year deal.., any of this five-year garbage would be a massive mistake for a first time coach.
3 would be a stretch in my opinion as well. Two years take it or leave it pal.
It’s even a mistake for the Budenholzer’s and Vogels of the world to get 5 years. They should be three year deals or find someone else.
Gary, IMO, Christie had some bargaining power because he knows nobody else wants this job and that Vivek can’t spare further embarassment.
13 coaches fired in 18 years. Mike Brown turns it around, and then gets fired.
I doubt the Kings found a single experienced head coach willing to interview.
Worst coaching job in pro sports?
I’m going to disagree Ari.
I think any NBA coaching job has the possibility of being short-lived.
Are the kings a perfectly run franchise? Probably not but any one who wants to be a coach would take that job in a heartbeat, give me the papers, where do I sign??
Veteran coach, Young coach, or someone with a few years experience who wants to show what he can do. I think anyone from either of those three categories would be eager to sign up.
I think Doug Christie is fortunate to land this job and had no real “bargaining power.”
He had advantages on his résumé being a hometown hero and familiar with the roster and loyalty to the organization. Stuff like that, but he held no “bargaining power.”
> Probably not but any one who wants to be a coach would take
> that job in a heartbeat, give me the papers, where do I sign??
Gary, this is a subject that really interests me, so I hope we’ll have a chance to go back and forth! I’ll try to persuade you why the pool of candidates for the Kings HC position is so small.
First, the Kings can’t afford to hire a turkey at this time, and that shortens the list. The HC position has to be stabilized, at least for 2-3 years, or they’ll lose still more players and fan loyalty. You can’t go with a “retread” like an Alvin Gentry, Dave Joerger, etc that has never hung on to a job. Doug Christie is (at least, for now) not known as a loser. And, as you describe so well, he has the unique advantage of being a hometwon hero.
The truth is that there is never a large pool of qualified NBA HC candidates because experience and credibility are so important.
I argue it works as in any profession: any HC worth hiring will not be desperate to take the first offer. The problem with taking on a bad situation, even if it’s a first time in such a role, is that bad situations rarely move a career forward. Every advisor to these coaches will tell them: “it’s better to wait for an opportunity where you can win.”
The Kings’ HC position is bad because you’re not going to win. NBA players don’t want to come to Sac; the team’s revenues are small and the ower is cheap; and the West is ultra-competitive. Nobody will take the HC job if they think they have a good shot at another one in the short-term.
There are always a few up-and-coming NBA assistant coaches (recently, Steven Silas, Will Hardy, Jordie Fernandez, etc) that spend a few years interviewing before chosing their spots. These guys know that a first-time gig can be your last if you don’t win, no matter how good a job you do, because the “loser” label can’t be shook. Silas hasn’t gotten a job since he was let go after 3 years of rebuilding at Houston where he was getting rave reviews until it was time “for the next phase”. Will Hardy at Utah may face the same fate — he’ll be in his 4th year of rebuilding at Utah, and they’re still tanking, so the next HC position will be hard to find. None of these are coming to Sac.
Then you have the college coaches with no NBA experience. The ultra-successful, like Brad Stevens and Dan Hurley, will only listen to offers for the plum jobs (i.e. not Sac). The second tier, like Mike Montgomery, Fred Hoiberg, John Beilein, etc have a record for failure, typically because NBA players don’t respect them.
Doug Christie knows all that.
Another point to add or to support what I wrote above is this.
Considering the difficulties of the kings in the past, a veteran coach would be eager to come in and sort of be that guy who did what others couldn’t and turn the franchise around.
That’s a tremendous draw in sports. I think it’s like a defensive player’s mindset. This guy’s averaging 25 every game and scores on whoever is checking him.
“But I am going to shut this guy down and hold him to 12.”
It’s something that a defensive player would be eager to accomplish that no one else can. I think that would be the same with the King’s coaching job opportunity.
Thoughts?
Gary, that’s exactly the point I was hoping we could talk about! I had sent off my first response before you sent this.
Perhaps I can put it like this: You believe there are a significant number of HC candidates out there that are willing to climb this mountain, whereas I think that the number is closer to none. It’s not zero, but it’s a huge job to find that person, and it’s definitely not somebody that’s already climbed the mountain.
I may have agreed with you 20 years ago. These days, I’m inclined to say, “you can’t get there from here”.
There’s evidence for your argument in college hoops. Brad Stevens at Butler. Mike Montgomery did it for a few years at Stanford. Mark Few for many years at Gonzaga before they were able to recruit so successfully. Maybe Greg Popovich in the pros, but he had some luck.
I might take the under on multiple years.