Report: Kings officials, DeMarcus Cousins meet with Mark Jackson
Kings officials and star center DeMarcus Cousins met with Mark Jackson after Tuesday night's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Sacramento, according to a report from Sam Amick of USA Today Sports.
The Kings fired Mike Malone as head coach this week and promoted Ty Corbin on an interim basis. The move raised eyebrows because the Kings had posted a 9-6 record before Cousins was sidelined with a viral meningitis infection. With Cousins out of the lineup, Sacramento has gone 2-8 while falling to 11th place in the Western Conference.
Several names have been floated as possible replacements for Malone, including long-time coach George Karl, Kings advisor Chris Mullin and former Clippers and Bulls head man Vinny Del Negro.
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Jackson, who called the game for ESPN, was fired in May following three seasons as the head coach of the Warriors. He guided Golden State to a 121-109 record (.526) -- including the franchise's first 50-win season since 1993-94 -- and two appearances in the postseason, but there was reported "dysfunction" among his coaching staff.
After he was fired, Jackson agreed to a multi-year deal to return to ESPN as a TV analyst. Golden State replaced Jackson with Steve Kerr, who has guided the team to the league's best record (21-3).
Amick notes that Jackson and Mullin have been good friends for many years. According to the report, Jackson, Kings general manager Pete D'Alessandro, Mullin and Cousins requested privacy for a lengthy meeting inside a lounge at Sleep Train Arena.
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Jackson, Mullin, and Cousins entered the room at approximately 10:20 p.m. Pacific time, with Cousins sporting a black suit as he continues to recover from his bout with viral meningitis that has kept him out of action since Nov. 26. D'Alessandro joined them approximately 20 minutes into the meeting, and the group finally exited just before midnight, long after the room had been cleared so that they could have a moment to discuss, well, connect the dots yourself.
The Kings (11-14) host the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.
