It's time for Kings to promote Doug Christie to head coach

The Kings (22-20) are now 9-2 since interim coach Doug Christie took the reins from the axed Mike Brown. On Sunday, the Kings blew out the Wizards, 123-100, to improve to two wins above .500 for the first time since November. 

The most impressive aspect of the win was that Sacramento's best player, De'Aaron Fox, had an off night and finished with a season-low 12 points. Yet, the offense didn't stagnate at any point as the Kings generated quality looks with solid ball and body movement. 

Under Christie, the Kings rank tied for first in win percentage (.818), third in points (122.1), tied for first in rebounds (48.3) and fifth in assists (29.5). Sacramento has also taken a significant stride on defense, conceding 110.8 points per 100 possessions since Christie took over.

Under Brown, the Kings ranked 10th in points (114.7), 17th in rebounds (43.6) and 16th in assists (25.5) per game. Sacramento was also a subpar No. 16 in defense, conceding 115.2 points per 100 possessions.

As the numbers illustrate, the Kings have improved on both ends of the floor — and are no longer as reliant on Fox or Domantas Sabonis to carry them to wins. Case in point: Malik Monk is averaging 22.3 points under Christie after producing nearly seven fewer points while coming off the bench for Brown. Similarly, third-year guard Keon Ellis is averaging 11.3 points under Christie — including 2.6 threes per game — after barely finding minutes under Brown. 

Perhaps the time has come for the Kings to name Christie as their next head coach. According to Andscape's Marc J. Spears, the Kings will play out the 2024-25 season before naming Brown's full-time successor. 

However, Christie has shown enough to be promoted to the full-time role, given the comments made by some of the Kings stars. Both Fox and Sabonis have raved about Christie's positive impact on the locker room, with the latter saying that the players feel a level of "confidence" they haven't in a while.