(KTXL) — After leading one of the best turnarounds in the NBA, Sacramento Kings Head Coach Mike Brown was named the league’s Coach of the Year by an unanimous vote.
Brown was announced as the award’s winner on TNT’s pregame show on Wednesday.
Brown is the first coach to win the award unanimously. He becomes the third coach in franchise history to receive the yearly award, but is the first coach to get the honor in the Sacramento era.
The award has been presented annually since the 1962-63 season.
It’s the second time Brown has won the yearly honor, previously winning the award in 2009 when he was the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He wins this season’s award after leading the Kings to their first playoff appearance in 17 years. The Kings finished the regular season in third place in the Western Conference with a 48-34 record.
After breaking their playoff drought, the Kings captured their first Pacific Division title since 2003.
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Brown inherited a team that went 30-52 the previous season when he was hired in May.
Heading into the 2022-23 season, the Kings had the longest playoff drought in NBA history at 16 seasons and the longest active non-playoff streak in North American professional sports.
This season is the first time the Kings have a winning record since 2006, the last time the franchise competed in the playoffs.
The Kings currently have a 2-0 lead over the defending champion Golden State Warriors in their first-round series.
In Brown’s first season, the Kings engineered the top offense in the league, averaging 120.7 points per game.
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Brown’s winning the yearly award comes a day after Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox was named the NBA’s Clutch Player of the Year.
The Kings continue their playoff series against the Warriors on Thursday for Game 3 at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Brown was previously named the 2023 Michael H. Goldberg NBCA Coach of the Year, which is voted upon by all 30 coaches in the NBA.
