Kings HC Mike Brown Confirms Starting Lineup Change

The Sacramento Kings are making a permanent change to their starting lineup.

November 13, 2024; Sacramento, California, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach Mike Brown instructs against the Phoenix Suns during the second quarter at Golden 1 Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

The Sacramento Kings have lost six of their last seven outings, capped off by a two-point loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday night. Falling to 9-12 on the season is obviously not ideal, but there is time to get back on track with 61 games left to play.

Sunday's game against the Spurs marked Malik Monk's first start as a King after 169 games of coming off the bench, giving Sacramento a much-needed offensive boost.

With Monk in the starting group, the Kings jumped out to a 17-point first-quarter lead. Even though they ultimately lost to the Spurs, the new-look starting group of Monk, De'Aaron Fox, DeMar DeRozan, Keegan Murray, and Domantas Sabonis is certainly promising.

Following the loss, Kings head coach Mike Brown confirmed that Monk would be the starting shooting guard going forward.

"Malik's gonna start," Brown said. "He's gonna start. There may come a day that I want to change it. Maybe, I don't know. But, what we've done so far hasn't resulted in good things in terms of our record. I feel like I needed to shake it up. It was good, but at the end of the day, we still lost."

Mike Brown from the podium. Lots of questions about the 3-point defense and Malik Monk’s first start. pic.twitter.com/Iqnzj3Knvy

— James Ham (@James_HamNBA) December 2, 2024

In his first start as a King, Monk dropped 19 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists on 7-14 shooting from the field and 5-10 from deep. Putting him next to the star trio of Fox, DeRozan, and Sabonis from the jump is certainly the right call in these desperate times.

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