Sacramento Kings coach Mike Brown, point guard De’Aaron Fox named finalists for NBA awards

Kings coach Mike Brown and point guard De’Aaron Fox were named finalists for NBA awards Friday on the eve of Sacramento’s first playoff game in 17 years.

Brown is a finalist for Coach of the Year and Fox is a finalist for the inaugural Clutch Player of the Year award. Both are considered strong candidates to win their respective awards, which will be announced during the NBA playoffs.

Brown will lead the Kings into Game 1 of their first-round series against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. The Kings enter the playoffs as the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference after putting together their best season since 2004-05.

Other finalists for Coach of the year are the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Mark Daigneault and Joe Mazzulla of the Boston Celtics. Other finalists for Clutch Player of the Year are the Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler and DeMar DeRozan of the Chicago Bulls.

NBA award winners are chosen by 100 sportswriters and broadcasters who vote on MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Clutch Player of the Year and Coach of the Year. The same panel also chooses All-NBA, All-Defensive and All-Rookie players.

Brown has already been named Coach of the Year by the National Basketball Coaches Association based on voting by the NBA’s 30 head coaches. NBCA president and Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said Brown has done “one of the greatest coaching jobs we’ve ever seen in this league.”

Brown oversaw the biggest turnaround in the league this season, leading the Kings to the playoffs for the first time since 2006. Sacramento won 48 games after going 30-52 last season.

Fox, who made his first All-Star appearance this season, ranked second in fourth-quarter scoring with 547 points and fourth in clutch scoring (5.0 ppg). Clutch situations are defined by the NBA as the last five minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score is within five points.