The Sacramento Kings have a prominent dilemma heading into the 2025 offseason.
On December 27, 2024, the Kings fired head coach Mike Brown and promoted assistant Doug Christie to interim head coach, and the former Sacramento standout guard has remained in that role ever since.
With just seven games left in the regular season, it is safe to say that Christie will keep the interim tag for the remainder of their 2024-25 campaign, but the franchise will have a huge decision to make this summer.
Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie
Mar 14, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach Doug Christie reacts against the Phoenix Suns during the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Through 44 games as interim head coach, Christie has led the Kings to a 23-21 record, but Sacramento is just 36-39 on the season and will likely end their campaign with a play-in tournament exit.
ESPN's Tim Bontemps wrote about Sacramento's head coach opening, labeling the pros, cons, and what could be next for the position.
For the pros, Bontemps praised Sacramento's veterans and ready-to-win talent, which are two undeniable aspects of the Kings' roster. While it might do more harm to have older talent, especially since they are not in a position to compete for a title, many coaching candidates could see the situation in Sacramento and be confident in their ability to fix it.
DeRozan & Sabonis led the way for the Kings on #NBARivalsWeek as they won their 7th straight home game!
DeRozan:
👑 32 PTS (19 in 3Q)
👑 5 REB
👑 2 STL
👑 2 BLK
👑 3 3PM
Sabonis:
💪 26 PTS
💪 18 REB pic.twitter.com/XRo8Xr7hS1
— NBA (@NBA) January 23, 2025
For the cons, though, Bontemps calls out Sacramento's small market and "decades of instability," which are both obvious problems for the Kings organization.
Still, the Kings could go out and get a great coach this offseason.
Bontemps suggests the Kings could take the interim tag off of Christie and promote him to the full-time position, but he predicts they could very well go out and get a big-name coach on the market.
"Christie has done a solid job the past few months since taking over for Brown. Christie will likely get a look to remain as coach, but Ranadive has repeatedly hired big names over the past decade -- including George Karl, Dave Joerger, Luke Walton and Brown -- so there's certainly a chance he pursues a bigger name this summer," Bontemps wrote.
One name that many Kings fans have jumped on is recently-fired Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins, who led the small-market Grizzlies to two consecutive 50+ win seasons.
Doug Christie has done an amazing job as the Kings interim head coach.
But if Jenkins is avaliable... https://t.co/fmGE4MOOpv
— Matt George (@MattGeorgeSAC) March 28, 2025
While Christie has done better this season as interim head coach than many might have expected, from what he has shown, he does not put the Kings in their best position to compete. If the Kings want to be a serious and competitive franchise, going out and hiring a head coach with more experience, like Jenkins, is likely the best move this offseason.