Portland Trail Blazers owner Tom Dundon received a lot of public criticism from coaches around the NBA for the contract head coach Micah Nori signed. While the controversial deal is effectively a “lame duck” contract that is viewed as one of the worst among his peers, Sacramento Kings coach Doug Christie has it worse.
On a recent episode of Brian Windhorst’s The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN NAB reporter Tim MacMahon shared that Doug Christie is the lowest-paid coach in the NBA.
“They’ve got the lowest-paid coach in the league…That’s what I’ve been told.”
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon on Sacramento Kings coach Doug Christie
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Portland signed Nori to a three-year deal with only the first season of it guaranteed. It is been reported that he is making around $1 million to $2 million. For comparison, top NBA assistant coaches reportedly make more per year than the Trail Blazers and Kings head coaches.
Christie, age 56, has spent his entire coaching career in Sacramento. Following his retirement as a player, he became a color commentator for the Kings ahead of the 2018-19 season. He then transitioned into coaching ahead of the 2021 campaign, first working under Luke Walton and then Mike Brown.
After signing Brown to a multi-year contract extension in July 2024, Kings owner Vivek Ranadive fired him in December of that same year. With Brown’s salary still on the books, Sacramento promoted Christie to interim head coach, and the interim tag was removed in May 2025.
Since taking over as the Kings coach, Christie has posted a 49-84 record (.368 winning percentage) and has largely been viewed as the worst coach in the NBA. Even coming off a 22-60 campaign, Ranadive opted to keep Christie around with the decision largely driven by the money.
While Christie signed a three-year contract when he was officially named the full-time Kings head coach, the final season isn’t guaranteed. Given that Sacramento is widely projected to be one of the two worst NBA teams in the upcoming season, it’s relatively safe to assume that this will be Christie’s last year as a coach.