Inside The Kings

Mike Brown on Expectation to Improve: 'Pressure Is a Privilege'

Sacramento's head coach gave wise words ahead of a busy off-season.

Logan Struck

Apr 9, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown gestures to his team against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Apr 9, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown gestures to his team against the Oklahoma City Thunder. / Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports
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Despite high expectations following a 48-win 2022-23 season, the Sacramento Kings fell short of the 2024 playoffs, leaving fans disappointed. The Kings have built a talented roster the past couple of years behind the star duo of De'Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis while putting together an All-Star coaching staff behind 2022-23 NBA Coach of the Year Mike Brown but still flared out earlier than expected.

Sacramento has put immense pressure on themselves this off-season to build a better team around their stars, as now that Kings fans have gotten a taste of playoff basketball, they will not settle for less.

In his end-of-season press conference, Kings' Brown was asked about the pressure the Kings feel to improve in a competitive Western Conference (via @MattGeorgeSAC | X):

"For me, I'm okay with the pressure and expectations because that comes along with the job," Brown said. "You kind of welcome that because I think pressure is a privilege. If you don't have pressure on you, that means you're probably insignificant, or what you're doing doesn't matter... I am 100 percent okay with any type of pressure that comes our way, and I truly feel our players are too."

Brown admits that there is certainly pressure around the organization to compete with the top teams in the conference, Brown does make a fantastic point about if a team is not feeling pressure, then they are likely doing something wrong. Sacramento missed the playoffs for 16 consecutive seasons, and just one year after breaking the dreadful drought, they were expected to be one of the top teams in a stacked West.

While the Kings certainly must make changes this off-season to get to where they are supposed to be, they are already in a much better position than they were in the past two decades.

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Logan Struck

LOGAN STRUCK

Logan Struck is the Deputy Editor for Inside the Kings - SI.com's team website following the Sacramento Kings.