UPDATE: According to Adrian Wojnarowski, Dave Joerger’s time in Sacramento will come to an end on Thursday. Wojnarowski reports Vlade Divac will fire Joerger during a meeting sometime during the day.
Kings GM Vlade Divac is planning to fire coach Dave Joerger in a face-to-face meeting today, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 11, 2019
As for the next direction to Kings go in, Marc Stein of the New York Times reports that it might be worth keeping an eye on Lakers coach Luke Walton, while Zach Lowe of ESPN notes that Sacramento might be the latest squad to turn to a Gregg Popovich assistant.
Amid reports that Kings coach Dave Joerger's job is in jeopardy, league sources say that Sacramento would have interest in Luke Walton should they decide to go through with a coaching change
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 11, 2019
Walton, of course, is not currently available. He remains coach of the Lakers after Magic Johnson's abrupt departure this week … after it was widely expected that Walton would be ousted today
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 11, 2019
Another candidate to watch, I'm told: Ettore Messina, currently w/ the Spurs. https://t.co/7T6nOZ2kd3
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) April 11, 2019
EARLIER: The Sacramento Kings didn’t make the playoffs this season, but you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who thought they didn’t wildly exceed expectations. The young, high-flying Kings went 39-43 on the year, ending up as the nine-seed in the Western Conference and showing more than enough to give fans reason to believe better days are in Sacramento’s immediate future.
But of course, because this is the Sacramento Kings we’re talking about here, something weird has to pop up that causes everyone to raise their eyebrows. That thing, per Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, is the squad’s general manager, Vlade Divac, “seriously weighing” getting rid of head coach Dave Joerger.
Vlade Divac is pushing to consolidate his power as Kings top basketball executive, seriously weighing dismissal of coach Dave Joerger, league sources tell ESPN. Divac/Joerger set for meeting today. Joerger led Kings young core to a 39 win season. He has a year left on deal.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) April 11, 2019
Sam Amick of The Athletic reported on Thursday morning that Divac agreed to a four-year contract extension with the franchise. Part of this agreement was that Kings owner Vivek Ranadive “made it clear” Divac will get to make the final decision on whether Joerger, who has been the team’s head coach since the 2016-17 campaign.
Joerger has accrued a 98-148 record during is tenure in Sacramento, which came after three seasons at the helm of the Memphis Grizzlies. This isn’t the first tie that Joerger’s job security has been called into question — he reported seriously butted heads with assistant general manager Brandon Williams over whether the team’s main priority back in November should have been develop young talent or compete.
