The Sacramento Kings suffered a bad loss on Friday night, falling at the hands of the Brooklyn Nets 128-119. The loss was the Kings’ sixth in seven games, a crucial stretch for a team that has hopes for a playoff berth, especially after holding the eighth seed in the West for a short while.
According to Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, this loss has had the Kings’ front office “strongly weighing” firing head coach George Karl. According to Woojnarowski, the Kings are allowing the coach to remain on the sidelines for a short while but his tenure with the team may be coming to an end soon:
As hours passed following the 128-119 loss to the Nets, there were indications that Karl could be spared long enough to coach the Kings on Sunday in Boston. Nevertheless, Karl has rapidly lost support in management and some parts of the locker room, league sources told The Vertical.
Karl was hired in mid-February of last season, replacing interim coach Tyrone Corbin. That move came after the Kings fired head coach Michael Malone, who had gotten the team to a quick start before DeMarcus Cousins’ sickness led to a losing streak. Additionally, Malone had a great relationship with the star big-man, something that has not been the case with Karl.
Since the summer, Karl had reportedly attempted to trade Cousins away, and there were numerous public arguments between the two. The season has seen several ups and downs, peaking with the Kings hold of the eighth seed before falling to a new low after the loss to the Nets. This latest loss led to the following statement from Cousins:
“I’m not going to keep blaming these guys in the locker room,” Cousins told reporters in the locker room. “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.”
Karl has repeatedly questioned the effort and energy of his players. That quote seems to show an apparent frustration from the Kings’ superstar in how the situation has been handled. It could perhaps be the final blow to Karl, who even had criticisms from Kings’ analysts after this game.
Whether this report comes to fruition is still a question. There have been previous rumors about Karl’s standing with the team (despite public comments to the contrary) and he has managed to stay on board with a mostly successful season. However, ownership seems to be on the final straw with this situation and it seems more apparent than ever that the Kings will soon be on their fourth coach in one calendar year.
