Kings send Brown packing; Embiid fined

MIAMI (AFP) — The Sacramento Kings have fired their head coach Mike Brown, ESPN reported on Friday, citing sources.

The Kings lost each of a recent five-game homestand and sit 12th in the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association.

ESPN said sources had told them that assistant coach Doug Christie is expected to take over on an interim basis.

Sacramento is 13-18 this season, three games behind the last playoff position, and lost, 114-113, to the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, blowing a 19-point third quarter lead.

Brown was voted the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2023 after ending the Kings’ 16-year absence from the playoffs. He was handed a three-year contract extension in June.

The 54-year-old has previously coached the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers and was an assistant coach to Steve Kerr at the Golden State Warriors before joining Sacramento.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid was fined $75,000 by the NBA for making “obscene gestures on the playing court” in the Sixers’ 118-114 victory over the Boston Celtics on Christmas Day.

The league said in a statement the incidents occurred in the first half of the 76ers’ victory in Boston, in which Embiid scored 27 points with nine rebounds.

Embiid celebrated a layup in the first half with the “DX crotch chop” thrusting gesture he has adopted from professional wrestling and been fined for in the past.

He had another gesture for Boston fans after a three-pointer shortly before halftime.

The 2023 NBA Most Valuable Player has appeared in just nine games this season because of injuries — the latest a sinus fracture that has him playing in a protective mask — and a three-game suspension for a physical altercation with a journalist.

Embiid had another injury scare before Wednesday’s game, falling over the security rope at the perimeter of the court during warmups and grabbing his right ankle.

He appeared untroubled during the game, but was listed as “questionable” for Saturday’s game against the Utah Jazz with a sinus fracture and a left foot sprain.