Getty Mike Brown speaks to reporters during the 2017 NBA Finals.
The Golden State Warriors could lose their top assistant coach to a divisional rival next season.
Warriors assistant Mike Brown has reportedly emerged as a finalist for the Sacramento Kings’ head coaching job, joining Brooklyn Nets consultant Steve Clifford. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that the two are finalists for the job. Another Warriors coach turned NBA analyst, Mark Jackson, is also seen as a top candidate for the position, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported.
Golden State assistant Mike Brown and Brooklyn consultant Steve Clifford are among finalists for Sacramento Kings’ head coaching job, sources tell ESPN.
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Brown Could Finally Leave Warriors
Brown has long been seen as a top candidate to return to the head coaching ranks. The former NBA Coach of the Year with the Cleveland Cavaliers joined the Warriors before the 2016-17 season and played a key role in the team’s substitution patterns and defensive coverages, noted C.J. Holmes of the San Francisco Chronicle. That has been an important part of the Warriors’ resurgence this season, as the team bounced back from two straight years falling short of the playoffs, riding a top-seven defense to earn the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
As Holmes added, Brown has been a candidate for other head coaching jobs before becoming a finalist for the Kings this year.
“Brown has interviewed for numerous head-coaching jobs over the years, including with the Knicks, Pacers and Clippers,” he wrote. “He was Cleveland’s head coach in two stints in 2005-10 and 2013-14, and he coached the Lakers in 2011-12. Brown has also been the head coach of the Nigerian men’s national team since 2020. He’s accumulated an overall record of 347-216 as a head coach in the NBA.”
Brown, a former NBA Coach of the Year with the Cavaliers, joined Steve Kerr’s staff ahead of the 2016-17 season. The 52-year-old has overseen the Warriors’ substitution patterns and defensive coverages.
The Kings are looking for a coach who can help turn the franchise around after missing the playoffs for an NBA-record 16th straight year and ending the season with a 30-52 record.
Brown’s Stature Growing
Aside from his work in the NBA, Brown proved himself on the international stage last year while leading the Nigerian men’s national team to a surprising run in the Summer Olympics. At the time, Brown said he learned a lot while working under Kerr and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.
“Working for those two guys has been a blessing for me,” Brown said, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “Both of those guys are fantastic people persons, and they communicate extremely well. I don’t know if there is a coach out there who messages better to their team on a daily basis. They have it down pat.”
Though the Nigerian team went winless in a tough Olympic group that included Australia, Italy, and Germany, Brown led the team to a massive upset in the lead-up to the games, defeating a U.S. men’s team led by Kerr.
Shout out to our guy Mike Brown for coaching @NigeriaBasket to a historic win 👏
While he could soon join the NBA head coaching ranks again, Brown also has big plans for the long-term success of the Nigerian basketball program as well. Chima Moneke, a forward who participated in Nigeria’s pre-Olympic training camp held last summer at the Warriors’ facility in Oakland, said Brown wants to make the program a fixture of international play.
“He wants Nigeria to be internationally recognized, not just as the best team in Africa,” Moneke said last year, via the Washington Post. “He wants us to be ranked top 10 year in and year out, and I’m right there with him.”
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