Kings' Fox not feeling guilty for Brown's firing: 'He's still getting paid'

Sacramento Kings guard De'Aaron Fox isn't showing much remorse following head coach Mike Brown's firing.

"I wouldn't use the word 'guilt,'" Fox told reporters Saturday, including ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "That's the nature of the job that we have. Obviously, him signing his extension this summer, we thought we would be together a whole lot longer."

Fox continued: "But that's the decision that they made. But at the end of the day, too, he's still getting paid. A great part of being an NBA player, being an NBA coach is those things can happen, but contracts are guaranteed."

The Kings fired Brown Friday after the bench boss called out Fox for a costly defensive error near the end of Thursday's 114-113 loss to the Detroit Pistons.

However, Fox didn't address the play postgame, saying that "it doesn't really matter" because it wasn't "going to make anybody feel any better."

A video also surfaced Saturday of Brown and Fox having a private conversation at the Kings' practice Friday. Sacramento fired the 2023 Coach of the Year following the practice as the team headed to the airport to fly to Los Angeles for Saturday's game against the Lakers.

Fox said the plane ride after Brown's dismissal was normal and that he slept.

The Kings named Doug Christie as interim head coach. Big man Domantas Sabonis said the first-time bench boss's initial message to the team was to "come out and stick together and fight. Just be us, be who we are, and turn this thing around," per McMenamin.

Sacramento has lost five consecutive games and sits 12th in the Western Conference at 13-18.