We’ve been calling for George Karl’s ouster since last summer. There were multiple reports during the season that his time with the Sacramento Kings was over, too. But on the final day of the regular season, it appears Vivek Ranadivé and Vlade Divac have finally decided to relieve the Hall of Famer from coaching duties.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, the Kings will fire Karl on Thursday.
After the team returns from its final road trip of the season, the Sacramento Kings are planning to announce the dismissal of coach George Karl on Thursday, league sources told The Vertical.
The Kings will allow Karl to travel back with the team late Wednesday night and will make official what’s been suspected for months: Once again, the Kings are in the market for a new coach.
Karl is aware of the timing of the Thursday dismissal, sources said.
The 64-year-old replaced interim coach Ty Corbin in February of last season after Sacramento made the mistake of dismissing Michael Malone two months earlier. He first grew crossways with Cousins shortly thereafter by telling media members that no player on the Kings was untouchable on the trade market, a rift that widened over the summer and continued fracturing Sacramento’s locker room throughout the duration of 2015-16.
Rumors of the Kings’ plans to fire Karl first swirled before the trade deadline in early February, a development that seemingly made his ouster imminent. Sacramento’s front office reversed course amid the chaos, however, further damaging the fragile relationship between Cousins, his teammates, and the organization in the process.
With the season on brink of its end, might the Kings finally bite the bullet with Karl? We hope so. The fans in Sacramento deserve better than what this team gave them over the past 15 months, and the Kings won’t improve on the court until a change is made on the sidelines.
