Video: J.B. Bickerstaff Calls Out 'S--tty' and 'Classless' Mike Brown Firing by Kings

Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff had the back of one of his NBA colleagues on Saturday.

"The way that it was handled was classless," Bickerstaff told reporters when discussing the Sacramento Kings' firing of Mike Brown. "When Mike pours himself into his job like he does, he deserves better than that. … I thought it was s--tty, to be honest with you, the way it was handled."

The two are close, and Brown even told reporters he used to babysit Bickerstaff ahead of Thursday's game between their two teams. Brown called the Pistons coach a "fantastic" man and a "high-character" guy.

Bickerstaff isn't the only NBA coach to defend Brown, as Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone told reporters Kings governor Vivek Ranadive showed "no class" with the firing.

While Sacramento has struggled this season, it was still a rather shocking development. After all, the team just hired him ahead of the 2022-23 campaign and signed him to a multi-year contract this offseason.

Brown also led the Kings to the playoffs in his first season, which snapped a 16-year streak without reaching the postseason. They then went 46-36 during the 2023-24 campaign.

This season has not gone according to plan, as the Kings are just 13-19 and lost five in a row prior to the firing. The Athletic's Anthony Slater and Sam Amick reported the organizational angst reached an all-time high after Thursday's loss to the Pistons and that Brown's "stern" demeanor was "beginning to wear on some players."

Still, Brown quickly found success in an organization that hasn't enjoyed much of it of late and clearly still has the belief of his fellow NBA coaches.

Despite that, Sacramento decided to move on and focus on turning things around under interim coach Doug Christie. He has plenty of work to do, as the team is in 12th place in the Western Conference standings after losing his first game on Saturday to the Los Angeles Lakers.