Report: De'Aaron Fox, Mike Brown Had 'Strong' Relationship Before Kings HC Was Fired

De'Aaron Fox's relationship with Mike Brown reportedly didn't influence the Sacramento Kings' decision to make a head coaching change last week.

On Friday's episode of The Hoop Collective, Brian Windhorst of ESPN reported that the relationship between Fox and Brown was "strong" before Brown's firing on Dec. 27 and that he doesn't believe Fox was involved in the decision.

"From what I know, I believe De'Aaron Fox," Windhorst said (54:00). "I don't believe he had something to do with this. I think De'Aaron Fox and Mike Brown's relationship was strong. That's what I believe and what I've been told."

Brown was in his third season with the Kings and had led the team to a playoff appearance in 2022-23. That was the first postseason berth for Sacramento since the 2005-06 season and it looked like the future was bright with a core surrounding Fox.

"I feel like there's this perception that people thought that we were at odds," Fox said, per ESPN's Ramona Shelburne. "You can ask anybody in this organization: me and Mike have never even had an argument. We could disagree with something. We talked about it and it was gone."

Sacramento started the season 13-18, which was disappointing after two consecutive winning seasons and the noted addition of DeMar DeRozan in the offseason. Since Brown's firing, Sacramento has gone 2-1 and currently sit in 12th place in the Western Conference.

While the team struggled to start the season, Fox has been as advertised averaging 26.8 points, 6.2 assists and five rebounds in 34 games to date.