Breaking: Kings Expected to Make Major Changes to Coaching Staff

The Sacramento Kings are letting go of Jay Triano and other assistant coaches as the offseason overhaul continues.

Apr 13, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings interim head coach Doug Christie gestures to the Phoenix Suns bench after the game at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images | John Hefti-Imagn Images

The Sacramento Kings made it official, naming Doug Christie head coach, and it isn't taking long for changes to come to the rest of the coaching staff as well.

The Athletic's Anthony Slater and Sam Amick announced that the Kings are expected to let go of Jay Triano, who was a lead assistant under Mike Brown and Christie for the latter half of last season, as well as Jawad Williams and three other assistant coaches.

The Kings will not retain lead assistant Jay Triano as part of Doug Christie’s staff, sources tell me and @Sam_Amick.

Continues organizational overhaul: Jawad Williams and three other assistants also out.

Leandro Barbosa will remain as part of Christie’s reworked staff.

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) May 3, 2025

This comes as no surprise, as all of the assistant coaches were chosen by Brown and not Christie. it's also no surprise that Leandro Barbosa will remain with the Kings and help build out the new staff under Christie. The two appeared to have a close connection and work together as assistant coaches the last three seasons.

Triano was not only the lead assistant but the most experienced coach on the Kings bench, as well as the offensive coordinator of the group. His departure means that the Kings offense could get a major overhaul next year with someone else running the helm of the offense.

Jawad Williams was the director of player development, leaving another important position vacant for the time being. It's a role that former King Bobby Jackson has specialized in in the past, but more on that soon.

Adding onto the mid-season departure of Luke Loucks, the Kings coaching staff is getting a major overhaul this offseason, which should be the case under a new head coach and isn't uncommon.

Christie was dealt an extremely tough hand last season when he took over, not only because of roster turnover, but also a depleted coaching staff. It was clear during the season that Christie was taking on a lot of the responsibilities himself. Not only was he a first time head coach, but also one who had to do more than most with limited resources.

Worth noting that Triano - the former Raptors, Suns and Canadian team head coach - still had time left on his deal.

Jawad Williams, Riccardo Fois, Robbie Lemons and Sam Logwood also out, per sources. https://t.co/CNrD3mHIj2

— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) May 3, 2025

Time will tell who he brings in to help him during the season, but ideally he'll find someone with experience to help replace Triano and the other assistants.

Both Christie and Barbosa are relatively new to coaching, when it comes to NBA standards. A name that has been thrown around is Dave Joerger, who seems like he would be a good fit to bring experience and leadership to the coaching staff, but it's unknown if he would want to return to the organization that let him go.

Either way, this marks another series of changes to the Kings as they head into an offseason overhaul from top-down.