Report: Sacramento Kings are considering firing coach George Karl
The Sacramento Kings are considering firing head coach George Karl after an ugly loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night, reports Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Kings lost 128–119 on the road to the lowly Brooklyn Nets, the team’s sixth loss in seven games. The performance reportedly left Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Vlade Divac extremely upset. Wojnarowski reports Karl has lost support from the front office and around the locker room of late. He also reports that Ranadive has lost support from the team’s minority owners.
The Kings are currently 21–29 and 3 1/2 games out of the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference, a position they held briefly in January before their current slide. The team spent aggressively in the off-season, signing several veteran players including point guard Rajon Rondo, and Wojnarowski reports ownership is holding the team to postseason expectations.
• MAHONEY: Cousins impacting Kings’ offense more than just scoring
Karl, 64, is the fifth-winningest coach in NBA history and has led the team for nearly a year, taking over from interim head coach Ty Corbin last February. Corbin replaced head coach Mike Malone after the team’s 11–13 start last season. Over the summer, rumors flew surrounding a tenuous relationship between Karl and star center DeMarcus Cousins, including reports that Karl had tried to trade Cousins.
Cousins expressed his current frustrations after the loss to Brooklyn.
“I’m not going to keep blaming these guys in the locker room,” Cousins told reporters Friday. “Energy and effort is a huge part of the game, but I’m not going to keep blaming it on that. We got a bigger issue, and we need to figure it out as a team.”
The Kings next travel to face the Boston Celtics on Sunday.
