Why Spurs-Knicks NBA Finals Matchup Is a Nightmare for the Kings

We are now days away from the NBA Finals, and the Sacramento Kings are a topic of conversation. That's a good thing, right? Well, not quite.

Fans around the NBA are talking about the Kings right now because they are back to being the laughing stock of the league. As the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs gear up for their upcoming Finals matchup, Kings fans are painfully reminded of how unfortunate this franchise is.

Just three years ago, the Kings made their first playoff appearance after a 16-year drought, led by head coach Mike Brown and star point guard De'Aaron Fox. Now, both Brown and Fox have broken through to the Finals, but as members of other franchises.

Trading De'Aaron Fox to Spurs

Mar 7, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard De'Aaron Fox (4) looks on during the first quarter of the game against the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center. | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The Kings sent Fox to the Spurs at the 2025 trade deadline in a deal that got them Zach LaVine in return. Now, LaVine is likely on his way out of Sacramento and the Kings are still searching for their next franchise point guard, while Fox is four wins away from winning his first championship.

In the Kings' defense, however, this was sort of a win-win move. After getting traded to San Antonio, Fox earned a huge four-year, $221.7 million contract extension. With a big payday and immense team success, this was the best possible outcome for Fox. And, for the Kings, they would have been paying Fox an average of $55.4 million per year, while likely still being stuck in no man's land.

Fox was an All-Star for the Spurs this season, but he has actually been a low-impact contributor for San Antonio in the playoffs. In the Western Conference Finals, not only did Fox miss two games, but he averaged just 11.2 points through five games on poor 36.5/22.7 shooting splits. Granted, he was certainly banged up when available, but this was not a strong showing for him.

Regardless, though, he is on his way to the Finals, a stage the Kings franchise has not reached since the Rochester Royals won it all in 1951.

Firing Mike Brown

Apr 28, 2026; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks head coach Mike Brown coaches against the Atlanta Hawks during the second quarter of game five of the first round of the 2026 NBA Playoffs at Madison Square Garden. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Just a few months before the Kings traded away Fox, they also fired head coach Mike Brown. Despite leading the Kings to their only two winning seasons in the past two decades, Brown was fired in his third season with the franchise after a 13-18 start. After going the rest of the 2024-25 season without a job, Brown took the Knicks' head coaching position in the 2025 offseason.

Now, in his first year with the Knicks, he has taken them to their first Finals appearance since 1999, as they search for their first championship since 1973.

The Kings replaced Brown with Doug Christie, who led the Kings to a 22-60 record in his first full season as an NBA head coach. Replacing a coach who is now taking a trip to the NBA Finals with a coach who was voted as one of the worst in the league feels like an obvious Kings moment.

There is no guarantee that the Kings would be in a better position with Fox and Brown still with the franchise, as there is even a good chance they needed the reset. However, it is a nightmare for Kings fans to see both of them make the NBA Finals in their first full seasons out of Sacramento.

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