The Kings will take away the interim tag from Doug Christie and make him their everlasting head coach, in line with Shams Charania of ESPN, who experiences that the 2 sides are finalizing the main points of a multiyear contract.
Previously an assistant coach underneath Mike Brown, Christie was elevated to go coach in December following Brown’s dismissal and led Sacramento to a 27-24 file following a 13-18 begin.
As Charania notes, the Kings went 13-10 in clutch-time video games underneath Christie after posting a 6-13 mark in these contests underneath Brown early within the season.
A former NBA taking pictures guard, Christie spent 5 of his 15 seasons as a participant in Sacramento and was employed as a shade commentator for Kings video games earlier than being employed by the franchise as an assistant throughout the 2021 offseason.
Christie, who initially served underneath Luke Walton, remained in his function as an assistant when the membership parted methods with Walton and promoted Alvin Gentry to exchange him throughout the 2021-22 season, and once more when the Kings employed Brown in 2022.
That is Christie’s first stint as an NBA head coach, although he had beforehand gained somewhat expertise in that function as a Kings assistant — he coached the group in December 2021 when Gentry missed time as a result of COVID-19 and later coached Sacramento’s Summer season League group in July 2024.
After successful 20 of their first 31 video games underneath Christie, the Kings misplaced 13 of their final 20 and had been eradicated within the play-in match by a depleted Mavericks group, costing them a shot at a playoff berth.
That underwhelming end to the season led to some hypothesis that the group may launch a full-fledged teaching search, however group proprietor Vivek Ranadive is said to be a fan of Christie, and reporting within the wake of Scott Perry‘s hiring as Sacramento’s new basic supervisor indicated that the interim coach was well-positioned to hold onto the job.
In accordance with Charania, Christie is predicted to revamp his teaching employees this offseason after having inherited Brown’s assistants within the winter.
