Report: Diminishing chances that Kings will hire Karl
Well, that doesn't seem to have lasted long.
Less than a day after reports out of Sacramento had the Kings interested in hiring veteran NBA coach George Karl, Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski comes in with cold water.
Sources: Rapidly diminishing belief within factions - Kings, George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins' camps - that Karl becomes Sacramento's coach.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 8, 2015
The Kings, being coached in the interim by Tyrone Corbin, were said to have immense interest in hiring Karl - potentially next season. However, Wojnarowski's mention of franchise player DeMarcus Cousins likely speaks volumes.
Cousins has not been happy since the oddly timed firing of head coach Mike Malone in December. Bringing Karl aboard apparently wouldn't make the star center's camp happy either, according to USA Today's Sam Amick.
Cousins's agent, Jarinn Akana, worked for Karl with the Denver Nuggets - and Karl reassigned him from coach to scout. As Amick also notes, another one of Cousins' agents, Dan Fegan, used to represent Karl's son Coby - who played two seasons in the NBA - until he was replaced.
On the flipside, Karl worked with current Kings general manager Pete D'Alessandro in Denver and coached team advisor Chris Mullin with the Golden State Warriors 27 years ago.
Wojnarowski reported Saturday that contract particulars are not the issue between the Kings and Karl.
Given the circumstances in Sacramento, it may not be surprising if the Kings want to avoid further alienating their best player.
Karl has an 1131-756 regular-season NBA coaching record with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Warriors, Seattle SuperSonics, Milwaukee Bucks and Nuggets. Denver let him go in 2013.