Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra Calls Firing Of Mike Brown, ‘Sad State’ of NBA Coaching

Jake Elman | Dec 28, 2024

Dec 12, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra reacts against the Toronto Raptors during the second half at Kaseya Center. Mandatory Credit: Rhona Wise-Imagn Images / Rhona Wise-Imagn Images

Some basketball fans aren’t happy with the league’s on-court product or how the media covers superstars. 

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra’s most significant issue (beyond dealing with the ongoing Jimmy Butler trade rumors) could be how organizations treat their head coaches. 

Ahead of Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks, Spoelstra criticized the Sacramento Kings for firing Mike Brown on Friday. The Kings dismissed Brown, who became the NBA’s first unanimous Coach of the Year winner in 2023, following a disappointing 13-18 start.

Brown is the first head coach fired this season; three teams dismissed their head coaches midway through the 2023-24 campaign. Twenty-five of the league’s 30 coaches have held their current job for less than five seasons. 

“It’s just a really sad state of our profession,” said Spoelstra, the league’s second-longest tenured head coach.

Spoelstra owns a 765-540 record and two championships since taking over the Heat in 2008. Miami has reached six NBA Finals despite constantly dealing with heavy expectations, superstar players, and a litany of injuries. 

Miami notably kept Spoelstra during a slow start to the 2010-11 season, the first of the Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Chris Bosh trio. The Heat reached the first of four straight Finals appearances. 

“Some of our best moments have been when we’ve lost, or we struggled with things, and you all get in a room, and basically the organization says, ‘Figure it the F out. There are no changes,’” Spoelstra told reporters. “So I feel for Mike, having to go through that.

“He was the same guy who was Coach of the Year less than 24 months ago,” Spoelstra added. “This league is hard. You have to go through adversity together as an entire organization if you’re going to break through and get to the other side.”

Spoelstra joined former Kings coach Mike Malone in directing his frustration toward the organization. Malone, the first of eight coaches the Kings have had since 2013, said Friday the team has “no class.”

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Jake Elman works as a contributing writer to Miami Heat on SI. He can be reached at jakeelman97@gmail.com or follow him on X @JakeElman97.