Kings coach Mike Brown speaks on his contract, Malik Monk’s free agency and staff changes

Kings coach Mike Brown discussed some hot topics during his exit interview Wednesday at the team’s Golden 1 Center practice facility.

Brown talked about his contract situation, Malik Monk’s pending free agency and what could have been for a team that failed to reach the playoffs a year after earning the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.

Brown’s contract situation has become a focal point in the days since the Kings suffered a season-ending 105-98 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans in a play-in elimination game Friday at Smoothie King Center.

The Kings signed Brown to a four-year contract when they hired him in the summer of 2022. According to The Athletic, the final year of the deal is a mutual option, making next season the final guaranteed year of the contract. Brown is reportedly seeking an extension at his market rate, which could come in over $10 million per year after Steve Kerr ($17.5 million), Gregg Popovich ($16 million) and Monty Williams ($13 million) signed lucrative new deals over the past year.

Brown downplayed his contract situation when asked if it was “top of mind” as he enters the summer following his second season in Sacramento.

“It’s not, really, at the end of the day,” Brown said. “I have one year left on my deal. Everybody knows that, but I’m excited about being here. I’m excited about our future, so I’m going to go into this summer trying to figure out how we can be better next year.”

Brown is a two-time Coach of the Year who became the first unanimous winner of the award last season after the Kings won 48 games to end the longest playoff drought in NBA history after 16 consecutive losing seasons. Sacramento’s offense slipped to No. 13 after recording the highest offensive rating in NBA history last season — a point of consternation for general manager Monte McNair — but the Kings improved from No. 24 to No. 14 in defensive rating, answering Brown’s season-long call for physicality and toughness.

The Kings nearly matched last year’s win total with a 46-36 record this season, but they fell from third to ninth in a much tougher conference with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves becoming contenders in the West. Next season is likely to be even more challenging. The Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs are poised to become playoff contenders and the Memphis Grizzlies should return to form after being decimated by injuries this season.

The Kings went 17-11 against the top seven teams in the West, but they were 13-11 against the other seven teams. They also squandered several games against inferior opponents such as the Charlotte Hornets, Detroit Pistons, Portland Trail Blazers and Washington Wizards.

Brown said learning to handle pressure and expectations is part of the process for this Kings team.

“You want to win at the highest level, so for me, I’m OK with the pressure or expectations because that comes along with the job,” Brown said. “You kind of welcome that because, again, I think pressure is a privilege. If you don’t have pressure on you, you’re probably insignificant or what you’re doing doesn’t matter to you or anybody else. I feel like I embrace it and everybody else in our organization embraces it.”

McNair was asked how he would assess Brown’s work in Sacramento and what recommendation he would make to ownership when it comes to contract talks.

“Look at a two-year horizon here, which is when coach Brown and his staff came in, and (there are) a lot of positives,” McNair said. “We’re certainly disappointed this year, and Mike and I will sit down and try to figure out how we get back to where we want to get to. And, yeah, we’ll have all those conversations here starting soon.”

Malik Monk’s future

Monk’s future will be another big topic of conversation in Sacramento leading up to the start of free agency on July 6. The 26-year-old guard averaged career highs of 15.4 points and 5.1 assists while shooting 44.3% from the field and 35% from 3-point range this season. He finished second behind Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid in Sixth Man of the Year voting in the closest race since the current voting format was introduced in 2002-03.

Monk came to Sacramento on a two-year, $19.4 million contract in the summer of 2022. Under the collective bargaining agreement, the Kings hold Monk’s early Bird rights, but full Bird rights are reserved for players who have spent at least three seasons with one club without changing teams as a free agent. Players with full Bird rights can receive maximum-salary contracts up to five years.

The most a team can offer an early Bird free agent without using salary cap space is 175% of his previous salary or 105% of the average league salary with 8% annual raises. The Kings can offer Monk about $78 million over four years with a starting salary of $17.4 million, but he could command well over $20 million per year from other teams that are free to offer more money.

Brown said bringing Monk back is a “no-brainer” for the Kings if they can persuade to stay.

“We love Malik,” Brown said. “Everybody knows that. I truly believe Malik loves it here. The fans have done a fantastic job of showing him love. I think he really, really, really appreciates that.

“He’s got a great soul and he’s about as charismatic as they come. In terms of him being back, that’s a no-brainer, but that’s going to have to take care of itself.”

Staff changes and summer plans

Brown also talked about the departure of lead assistant Jordi Fernandez, who was hired as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Brown congratulated the Nets on a “fantastic hire” and said assistant coach Luke Loucks will be promoted to the front of the bench.

Brown said he and his staff will review most if not all games from the 2023-24 season. He admitted the play-in loss to the Pelicans will haunt him going into the summer.

“To lose to New Orleans, especially when I felt we had pretty good mojo going, we had a pretty good opportunity and I felt we improved in a lot of areas throughout the course of the year,” Brown said.

“That makes it tough to not have a chance to play in a seven-game series. That makes it tough because when you look at the West and you look at how we competed against the West, anything could have happened. The sky was the limit. I think that’s how close these teams were this year.”