NBA Rumors: Kings Head Coaching Search Down To Two Candidates

It sounds like the Sacramento Kings' search for a new head coach may be coming to an end soon.

According to a Sacramento sports radio station, KHTK Sports 1140, sources have indicated that the Kings have narrowed down their coaching search to just two candidates.

The two finalists for the head coaching position are former Warriors head coach Mark Jackson and current Warriors assistant coach Mike Brown, and apparently there's a good chance that Sacramento will make their decision by the end of the week.

According to sources close to @CarmichaelDave, the Sacramento Kings coaching search is down to two candidates:

Mike Brown and Mark Jackson.

Per the source, the team would like to have a new coach hired "by the end of the weekend, if not sooner."
— Sports 1140 KHTK (@Sports1140KHTK) May 5, 2022

The Sacramento Kings have not made the playoffs—or have had a winning record—in 16 straight seasons now, and after they made the decision not to bring back interim head coach Alvin Gentry, the Kings appear to be looking at potential coaches who they believe can turn the franchise around.

Well, the Kings have two pretty darn good coaching candidates to choose from, if they wish to escape the purgatory of being a basement-dwelling team.

Mike Brown is a former NBA Coach of the Year recipient and is a proven winner, sporting a career head coaching record of 347-216 in the regular season, although many people may point out that Brown benefitted greatly from having LeBron James for the majority of the seasons that he coached.

And while Brown has not won any championships as a head coach yet, he has earned three championship rings as an assistant coach, which definitely proves how valuable he is in any coaching role.

Mark Jackson, on the other hand, is not as experienced as a head coach as Brown, but in his short stint in the role, he has proved that he can lead his team to winning results, at least in the regular season.

Jackson has a career regular season record of 121-109, and his coaching was one of the major reasons why the Warriors were able to become a winning team again after four straight seasons of losing records.

Although, while Jackson has had regular season success, it is worth noting that Jackson has lacked the same success in the playoffs, as he was not able to take his team past the Western Conference Semifinals. This led to Brown being replaced by Steve Kerr, who would go on to win multiple championships with the Warriors.

While neither candidates have won any championships in their head coaching careers, the Kings organization would probably be satisfied with a head coach that can simply help produce winning regular season results, which would be an absolutely huge improvement for a franchise that is so used to losing.

No matter which candidate the Kings ultimately decide to hire, it will be interesting to see if either Brown or Jackson can help this franchise crawl out of the proverbial basement and return to the basketball royalty status the organization enjoyed between 1999-2006.