De'Aaron Fox, Domantas Sabonis say Kings' Mike Brown deserves Coach of the Year

The Sacramento Kings play at the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night for their second of four Pacific Division matchups this season.

Phoenix (31-27) is currently one spot below the third-place Kings (32-24) in the NBA Western conference standings. Sacramento is the biggest surprise team this season after many pundits and media outlets, including The Republic, predicted the Kings would either miss the playoffs, or their best shot at breaking their league's longest playoff drought of 16 years would be through the play-in tournament.

Three major reasons for their success include hiring coach Mike Brown in May 2022, their All-Star duo in point guard De'Aaron Fox (19th-ranked in scoring this season at 24.3 points per game) and big Domantas Sabonis, who was traded from Indiana to Sacramento (both players within the top 20 dishing 6.9 and 6.2 assists per game, respectively) around last season's trade deadline.

The Republic spoke with Fox and Sabonis during their pregame shootaround's media availability Tuesday.

Impact of Sabonis' versatility for Kings' frontcourt play since they traded for him.

Sabonis: "Talking to Coach (Brown) over the summer when he came and everything, the system was made so I can be a facilitator, at the same time Fox be aggressive in the pick and rolls. But if things break down, I usually flash to the elbow, and then we have a system that works from there. So that kind of puts the ball more in my hands and helps me make more decisions."

Fox: "He’s an anomaly. Not many bigs are able to do that. Just the way that he makes the game easy for everybody. He can get in the paint with the dribble. He can get in the paint in the post. He can handle in pick and rolls. He can pop. He can roll. He can do a lot of different things. I think he opens up your offense that much more."

Sabonis' feeling when he learned about being traded to Sacramento: "We travel so much. It’s doesn’t really matter the city. What matters is that call from the (general manager) when they tell you you’re traded, and they tell you how they want to use you. They brought me here to try and change this franchise around and flip it, and we’ve all been working toward it. It’s not just me. There’s Coach (Brown), there’s all other players we got in free agency, so it’s a team thing. As a competitor, as a player, you love a challenge. This has been a great year."

Fox on Kings signing his former Kentucky backcourt mate Malik Monk (13.4 points, 3.9 assists off the bench this season) in free agency last summer "It was great. They asked me about him, asked me if they should pursue him. I told them what I honestly thought, and I felt like he could really help the team and I think he’s done that this year for us off the bench."

Why Fox and Sabonis believe Mike Brown should be a leading candidate for Coach of the Year:

Fox: "I think he’s helped this organization turn around. He’s brought championship pedigree as a coach just knows how to adjust to different things, work different lineups. I think he’s inspired a lot of people, not only in the organization but in the city. I think he definitely should be a frontrunner for Coach of the Year, for sure."

Sabonis: "Yeah, of course. If we keep winning games and we’re up where we are or even higher in that area, for sure. Everyone thought, I don’t know, how many wins we’re gonna make, or if we’re gonna be for the play-in (postseason tournament)? Anytime you exceed those expectations, it has to do with the coaching staff, the organization, the players. We definitely need to give his credit."

Sabonis on playing at Suns on Tuesday and their trade for Kevin Durant: "They went to the finals a couple years ago. It’s a team that’s been together for a while. Obviously, after the trade they lost some players (Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, and Jae Crowder for Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren from Brooklyn). It’s guys who have been around who know what it takes. They’re not just gonna come out and play at 50% and think they’re gonna get a win. They know what it takes. They’re gonna play hard, they’re gonna talk. It’s always a fun, aggressive game and we like that."