The Kings will take away the interim tag from Doug Christie and make him their everlasting head coach, based on Shams Charania of ESPN, who studies that the 2 sides are finalizing the small print of a multiyear contract.
Previously an assistant coach underneath Mike Brown, Christie was elevated to go coach in December following Brown’s dismissal and led Sacramento to a 27-24 report following a 13-18 begin.
As Charania notes, the Kings went 13-10 in clutch-time video games underneath Christie after posting a 6-13 mark in these contests underneath Brown early within the season.
A former NBA taking pictures guard, Christie spent 5 of his 15 seasons as a participant in Sacramento and was employed as a colour commentator for Kings video games earlier than being employed by the franchise as an assistant in the course of the 2021 offseason.
Christie, who initially served underneath Luke Walton, remained in his function as an assistant when the membership parted methods with Walton and promoted Alvin Gentry to exchange him in the course of the 2021-22 season, and once more when the Kings employed Brown in 2022.
That is Christie’s first stint as an NBA head coach, although he had beforehand gained somewhat expertise in that function as a Kings assistant — he coached the workforce in December 2021 when Gentry missed time attributable to COVID-19 and later coached Sacramento’s Summer season League workforce in July 2024.
After profitable 20 of their first 31 video games underneath Christie, the Kings misplaced 13 of their final 20 and have been eradicated within the play-in event by a depleted Mavericks workforce, costing them a shot at a playoff berth.
That underwhelming end to the season led to some hypothesis that the workforce would possibly launch a full-fledged teaching search, however workforce proprietor Vivek Ranadive is said to be a fan of Christie, and reporting within the wake of Scott Perry‘s hiring as Sacramento’s new normal supervisor indicated that the interim coach was well-positioned to hold onto the job.
Based on Charania, Christie is anticipated to revamp his teaching workers this offseason after having inherited Brown’s assistants within the winter.
