Inside The Kings

Domantas Sabonis Opens Up About Relationship With Kings HC Doug Christie

The Sacramento Kings star center is building a tighter relationship with his new head coach.
Eric Sperlazza|
Mar 17, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) warms up before the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Mar 17, 2025; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings forward Domantas Sabonis (11) warms up before the game against the Memphis Grizzlies at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images | Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

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There has been a decent amount of speculation about Domantas Sabonis’ relationship with Doug Christie and whether he played a part in Mike Brown’s dismissal. Regardless, Domas now gets a full season (and offseason) with Christie and his staff at the helm as the Kings look to bounce back from last year’s disappointment. 

Despite all the time that Christie and Sabonis have spent together during the last few seasons, Domas knows that things will be a bit different this year. 

“It’s definitely been tougher; he’s been that fun, cool assistant coach for a long time, and now he has to be real with a lot of the guys, even myself,” Sabonis said about Christie.

In an article by The Athletic, Sabonis talked about how Chrisite “would basically live out in Napa” with him during the summer to help him prepare for the season. Now, Christie will be much more of a generalist as he looks to help the team as a whole instead of focusing on skill sessions with specific players. 

The changes will be tough to navigate for both, but Domas says the rapport they’ve built will help him and Doug stay open and honest with each other throughout the season. 

“The thing I love about it is that me and him have a great relationship, we can be honest with each other and only want what’s best for us,” Sabonis said.

Translating Relationships into Wins

There’s been a lot of talk at media day about open communication for the Kings this season. While words only mean so much when the team has underperformed for the last two seasons (and at least 16 others before that), it’s nice to hear that theme echo from the Kings' key players, coaches, and front office. 

Normally, I would say “in my opinion” here, but Domas is the best player on the Kings by a decent margin. Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are great scorers, but this team will only go as far as Sabonis can take them. Domas’ numbers have been nothing short of incredible in the regular season, but it hasn’t translated to wins or playoff success yet. It would even be fair to say that Sabonis’ limitations directly impacted how far Sacramento has been able to go during his tenure. 

Taking Another Shooting Leap

For the Kings to be a playoff team again, Sabonis will need to improve his defense and become a much more willing shooter from the outside. There’s no doubt that this is asking a ton of Sabonis, who has already proven that he’s an excellent rebounder, interior scorer, and playmaker during his previous nine seasons in the league. 

With LaVine, DeRozan, and now Dennis Schröder in the fold, Sabonis will have less opportunity with the ball in his hands than he has since he arrived in Sacramento. He made big strides with his shooting last season, shooting nearly 42% from deep on the second-most attempts per game for his career. However, the 2.2 triples he took a night last season will need to increase if teams are going to fully respect his shot.

Last season, 144 of Sabonis’ 156 threes were “wide open,” which NBA.com defines as having no defender within six feet. Sabonis was also just three of 12 on those slightly more contested shots from deep, and not much better on any inside the arc jumpers. 

It’s also worth calling out that Sabonis shot just 27% from three after the All-Star break with Christie as a head coach and LaVine on the roster. When you zoom out from his career year from deep, it’s clear that Sabonis and Christie still have some work to do this offseason.

Defense, Defense, Defense

Defense was Christie’s calling card throughout his NBA career. For the Lakers, Raptors, and Kings, Doug made life miserable for whoever he was put on with his physicality and size. Domas isn’t anywhere near the defender that Christie was, but he’s far from the player that many paint him to be on that end. 

Numbers show that Sabonis is actually a very good interior defender, with players shooting 3.5% and 3.2% worse within ten and six feet, respectively. Limited by his shorter wingspan and lateral quickness, his footwork needs to be a point of emphasis this offseason to help Domas defend pick-and-rolls and other actions he gets put in. 

According to BBall Index, Sabonis is already solid in isolation on the perimeter, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Only time will tell if Christie and Sabonis’ chemistry will make its way to the court next season, but players are usually more willing to make changes for coaches they believe in. Personally, I’m excited to see how Christie uses Sabonis on both ends next year, as Brown’s plan for Sabonis left a lot to be desired, regardless of how you feel about him as a coach. 

Expectations aren’t high for the team, but I hope that Domas and Chrisite can prove a lot of us wrong when the season kicks off.

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Eric Sperlazza
ERIC SPERLAZZA

Eric Sperlazza covers the NBA and Sacramento Kings for Sacramento Kings On SI.

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