A concern for the Sacramento Kings going into the 2015-16 season was centered around the health of their head coach, George Karl. The future Hall-of-Famer had previously battled cancer but he won that fight.
Now it appears after the Kings recent loss at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavalier, Coach Karl will be undergoing another cancer-related procedure, seemingly as just a precaution. George Karl says it is not serious.
Following from Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee.
Kings coach George Karl said he’s having a medical procedure Thursday related to cancer in his throat and that he will miss the day’s practice.
Karl, a two-time cancer survivor, addressed his health in an interview with The Bee after Wednesday’s 120-111 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Sleep Train Arena. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2005 and with treatable neck and throat cancer in 2010.
“I’m having a procedure for a cancer in my throat,” Karl said.
When asked if the procedure was serious, Karl said “no” twice.
When Kings general manager Vlade Divac was asked if he was concerned about Karl, he said “of course, of course.”
“Coach told me the other day,” Divac said. “I told him to take as much time as he needs. … We probably won’t know the results for a couple days.”
Divac had told Karl before the season if he ever needed to take time to rest that would be OK; that discussion was not related to cancer.
Divac reiterated the team would not rush Karl back.
“He doesn’t know how long (the procedure is) going to take, whether it’s one hour, two hours, three hours,” Divac said. “We have practice, and I told him, ‘I’ll be there. You have to just do your thing, and if you need more time, don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of it.’ ”
