Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra felt for former Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown, who was fired on Friday, December 27, following a five-game losing skid.
“I texted with him last night,” Spoelstra told reporters before the Heat’s 120-110 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday, December 28, per Suns Sentinel Ira Winderman. “It’s just a really sad state of our profession.
“It seems like I’m making comments about coaches far too often. Somebody on our staff mentioned that it was almost 15 coaches in Sacramento since I’ve been head coach. They’ve had some really good head coaches come through there.”
Spoelstra said he and Brown “go all the way back to the beginning,” as they both started as video coordinators before climbing the coaching ranks.
‘This League is Hard’
Brown’s unceremonious firing in Sacramento struck a chord with Spoelstra, the second-longest tenured active coach in the NBA behind only San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich.
“What they did there is really hard to do,” Spoelstra said, referring to the Kings’ decision. “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.”
Spoelstra is grateful the Heat are far more patient than the Kings organization. They didn’t fire when they fell short of championship expectations during the first season of LeBron James in Miami. They stuck with him even during their losing seasons after James left.
Each time, Spoelstra rebounded. He guided the Heat to two NBA titles in the next two seasons with James. Then he coached the Heat to two NBA Finals berths and one Eastern Conference Finals with Jimmy Butler in the post-LeBron, Dwyane Wade era.
“Some of our best moments have been when we’ve lost or we struggled with things and you all get in a room, and basically the organization says, ‘Figure it the [expletive] out. There are no changes,'” Spoelstra continued.
“So I feel for Mike, having to go through that. He was the same guy who was Coach of the Year less than 24 months ago. 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.”
Heat Named as Possible Suitor for Kings Star
The Kings’ decision to fire Brown could have an impact on the Heat in the next few months.
Before Brown’s unceremonious exit in Sacramento, preceded by rising tension between him and Kings’ star point guard De’Aaron Fox, ESPN’s Tim MacMahon reported that the Heat are among the possible suitors for the one-time All-NBA guard if he asks out.
“If he does ask out, San Antonio and Houston—keep an eye on those two. I’ve heard Lakers, but it’s hard for me to tell how much of that is just people jumping to conclusions because he’s a Klutch client. And then I’ve heard Miami with the Bam [Adebayo] connection there,” MacMahon said on the “Hoop Collective” podcast on December 27.
Fox and Adebayo were teammates at Kentucky in the 2016-17 season. Fox’s current teammate Malik Monk was also on that Kentucky team that reached the Elite Eight.
Fox, who made it to the All-NBA Third Team and the Clutch Player of the Year in 2023, is on the fourth year of a five-year, $163 million deal with the Kings. Next summer, Fox will be eligible for a four-year, $229 million extension.
Where the Kings go from here will dictate Fox’s future in Sacramento.
