Sacramento Kings Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Kings To Fire George Karl

February 8th, 2016 at 9:34pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Kings plan to fire coach George Karl, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com. After months of rumors, Stein said sources told him the team has made a decision and the move will be made in the “coming days,” most likely after the team’s final game before the All-Star break, which will be Wednesday in Philadelphia.

Feb 5, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl watches play between the Brooklyn Nets and the Kings during the second half at Barclays Center. The Nets defeated the Kings 128-119. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Noah K. Murray / USA Today Sports Images

The move verifies a report earlier today by Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports that the front office has lost faith in Karl and the players have tuned him out. The Kings fell to 21-31 with tonight’s 20-point loss in Cleveland and are currently five games behind the Jazz for the final Western Conference playoff spot.

Stein writes that the decision to replace Karl is being made by GM Vlade Divac, and that former Kings player and current assistant Corliss Williamson is the “overwhelming favorite” to take over as interim coach. Sources tell Stein that Divac only wants an interim coach right now and wants to take his time with the coaching search.

Karl had been under fire even before he was formally hired to coach the Kings a little less than a year ago. Sources told Stein that discontent has been growing lately over Karl’s defensive schemes, his philosophy on practice and his overall leadership.

Point guard Rajon Rondo, who came to Sacramento as a free agent last summer and has been among Karl’s biggest supporters, appeared to jump ship earlier today, complaining about the coach’s decision to make this morning’s shootaround optional, tweets Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee. “With optional shootarounds, it’s tough … When three or four guys show up for shootaround this morning, how can you expect to win?” Rondo said.

Karl has $6.5MM guaranteed cash left on the four-year, $15MM deal he agreed to last year, not counting this season’s $3.25MM salary. The Kings will be seeking their ninth coach since 2006/07, the most in the league since that time. When the firing becomes official, Karl will be the sixth coach to be let go this season.

Was it time for a change in Sacramento? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Pacific Notes: Walton, Nash, Hill, Divac

February 8th, 2016 at 5:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

Warriors assistant Luke Walton has hired the Wasserman Media Group to represent him in negotiations, league sources tell Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Walton is reportedly a top candidate for the newly created Knicks vacancy, but the prospect of Walton ending up in New York is a long shot, tweets Monte Poole of CSNBayArea.com. See more from the defending champs amid the latest from around the Pacific Division:

Warriors part-time player development consultant Steve Nash said he wouldn’t be closed to the possibility of working for the Suns in the future, but he’s not willing to become the team’s coach for now, calling the notion of the team’s apparent interest in him for its head coaching vacancy “a moot point at this point.” The two-time MVP made his comments on J.J. Redick‘s podcast for The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (audio link, scroll to 7:45 mark).
Interim Suns coach Earl Watson told new assistant Bob Hill when Hill was Watson’s coach on the SuperSonics from 2006 to 2007 that he’d like to coach with him someday, and that longstanding desire brought Hill back into NBA coaching after a nine-year absence, as Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic details. Hill still has some bitterness toward Spurs coach/president Gregg Popovich about Popovich’s decision to remove him as head coach of the Spurs nearly 20 years ago, Coro also relays. “I guess I didn’t do good enough. I don’t know. He wanted to be the coach,” Hill said of Popovich. “And as soon as he had an opportunity to get rid of me, he did it. It’s too bad. The league’s like that sometimes. You’re going to run into people like that sometimes and that’s part of life. It was a great experience. I’m happy I had that. It hasn’t affected my coaching. I continued to coach and always will.”
Kings GM Vlade Divac is only willing to make a trade if it’s a significant upgrade for the team, in spite of a report indicating that Sacramento is actively shopping many of its players, as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee wrote today in a chat with readers.

Latest On Kings, George Karl

February 8th, 2016 at 11:55am CST by Chuck Myron

Assistant coach Corliss Williamson is more likely to be the head coach of the Kings by season’s end than George Karl is, barring a surprise, according to Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. The front office has lost nearly all confidence in Karl and players have tuned him out, Mannix hears from league sources, echoing Vertical colleague Adrian Wojnarowski’s report from Saturday that once more cast Karl’s job security into public question. Many of the Kings players have heard through their agents that the team is actively shopping them, Mannix also writes.

It’s the latest round of upheaval in Sacramento, where team’s minority-share owners have looked into ways to seize control from owner Vivek Ranadive, sources told Mannix. They nonetheless have little means to stage a coup, Mannix adds. The turmoil surrounding the Kings has made the head-coaching job unattractive to potential candidates, the Vertical scribe writes, suggesting that well-regarded assistants Kenny Atkinson of the Hawks and Jay Larranaga of the Celtics aren’t particularly anxious to take the job if it indeed comes open.

Kings players are upset with Karl about ineffciency in practices and shootarounds, and about in-game moves that haven’t worked out, as Mannix details. Kings GM Vlade Divac said in November, amid the last round of rumors surrounding Karl’s job security, that Karl would remain coach through season’s end. Former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro said the same about interim coach Tyrone Corbin last season, but the team replaced Corbin with Karl over the 2015 All-Star break. That’s when the Kings gave Karl a contract that reportedly pays him $3.25MM this season and $5MM next season. He has a $5MM salary for 2017/18 that’s partially guaranteed for $1.5MM, as Wojnarowski also reported at the time.

The Kings have lost seven out of eight games and gave up 46 points in the first quarter Sunday in a loss to the Celtics. Sacramento is four and a half games behind the eighth-place Jazz in the Western Conference.

What’s the solution for the Kings? Leave a comment to share your thoughts.

Western Notes: Griffin, Kings, Durant

February 7th, 2016 at 8:14pm CST by Will Joseph

Blake Griffin wouldn’t necessarily welcome a trade that would bring him to his hometown of Oklahoma City, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com reports. The possibility hasn’t been discussed within Griffin’s camp, but for Griffin, playing in Oklahoma City would be akin to playing in New York City because of the attention he would receive, Berger adds. The Clippers reportedly wouldn’t hesitate to swap Griffin for Kevin Durant. The Clippers will also reportedly strongly consider dealing Griffin this summer if they don’t make a deep playoff run. There have been rumors that the Clippers may think about dealing Griffin in the wake of an incident with an equipment manager that the team reportedly believes could keep him out of action for two months. However, Clippers executive/coach Doc Rivers said Griffin will remain with the team.

Here’s more out of the Western Conference:

George Karl‘s camp expects him to remain coach of the Kings at least until the All-Star break, Sam Amick of USA Today Sports reports (on Twitter). The Kings’ final game before the break is Tuesday. It is worth noting that Rajon Rondo is particularly fond of Karl, but that may not matter, Amick tweets. The Kings are reportedly mulling whether to fire Karl.
Durant told reporters recently that it’s tough for him not to think about his upcoming free agency, Michael Singer of USA Today Sports relays. “There’s a lot of uncertainty going on, because I haven’t really thought that far,” Durant said. “But I’m just trying to focus on playing basketball. Once that times comes, I’ll make that decision. I’ll sit down and talk to my closest friends and family and figure it out. But right now I’m just trying to be the best basketball player I can be every single day. I have to be at a high level, an elite level every day, at practice, shootarounds and games, and that’s a tough task so I can’t focus on anything else other than that.”
Staying healthy is better than any move the Mavs could make at the trade deadline, opines Bobby Marks of The Vertical in the Dallas installment of his deadline guide series.

And-Ones: Trades, Clarkson, Pistons

February 7th, 2016 at 12:53pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The lack of enticing free agent options at the point guard position in the upcoming offseason should heat up the trade market prior to the deadline, Tom Ziller of SB Nation opines. Aside from Mike Conley, there isn’t another star-level point guard set to hit free agency this summer. Brandon Jennings and Rajon Rondo will be free agents and Deron Williams could join them if he turns down his player option after the season. Beyond those four players, there arguably isn’t another starting-caliber point guard on the market.

Ziller speculates that as many as seven teams, including the Knicks and Nets, could attempt to join in on the Jeff Teague sweepstakes. The scribe also names Darren Collison as a player to watch on the trade market, especially if the Kings get a sense that Rondo will re-sign with the team.

We’re 11 days from the trade deadline. As we wait to see what deals unfold, check out some notes from around the league:

Jordan Clarkson has mostly played the two for the Lakers this year, but his past experience running the point makes Ziller, as he writes in the same piece, wonder whether another team will throw a substantial offer at him and look to make the 23-year-old a starting point guard. Clarkson will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season, but he’s subject to the Gilbert Arenas Provision.
It might be worthwhile for the Pistons to trade away their 2016 first round pick in exchange for bench help, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports opines in a piece that examines all of the team’s trade assets. Detroit is clinging to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with a record of 27-25, which, if the season ended today, would give the team the No. 17 overall selection in the upcoming draft, as our Reverse Standings indicate.
The Heat have recalled Jarnell Stokes from the Sioux Falls Skyforce, their D-League affiliate, according to the team’s website. Stokes has averaged 20.6 points and 10.2 rebounds per game in five stints with the Skyforce this season.

Kings Rumors: Karl, Rondo, Cousins

February 7th, 2016 at 10:27am CST by ChrisCrouse

The Kings will take on the Celtics today and coach George Karl remains focused on the game rather than the rumors of him being fired, A. Sherrod Blakely of Comcast Sportsnet writes. “I have no control over what people think,” Karl said. “My job is to get prepared for Boston.”

Here’s more from Sacramento:

Rajon Rondo appears to have a lax approach in dealing with the rumors, Blakely adds in the same piece. “It’s a part of the business; coaches get fired, players get traded,” Rondo deadpanned. Rondo did acknowledge that Karl has given him more freedom on the court which has allowed the point guard’s game to evolve.
Karl believes the roster turnover is partly to blame for the Kings‘ 21-29 record, Chris Forsberg of ESPN.com writes. Karl pointed out that the team entered this season with 10 new players. “The truth of the matter is I think this team has hung together pretty well through a lot of ups and downs this year,” Karl added.
If Karl is fired, the DeMarcus Cousins trade talk will heat up again, Blakely speculates in a separate piece. Blakely adds that the Celtics would love to acquire Cousins, though the scribe admits that a trade is unlikely to occur.

Pacific Notes: Karl, Griffin, Russell

February 6th, 2016 at 6:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

Rumors are again swirling of a possible coaching change in Sacramento, but firing George Karl now might not be the Kings‘ best move, contends Sam Amick of USA Today. The columnist warns that an immediate change could make it difficult for the team to conduct a thorough search for Karl’s replacement. He adds that Sacramento has been looking at former Thunder coach Scott Brooks, ex-Bulls mentor Tom Thibodeau and former Warriors coach Mark Jackson for a while.

There’s more news from the Pacific Division:

The Kings should get rid of Karl right away because they have barely improved despite raising their talent level, argues Tom Ziller of SB Nation. Sacramento is just 21-29 and falling out of the playoff picture even though it signed Rajon Rondo, Marco Belinelli and Caron Butler in free agency and drafted Willie Cauley-Stein sixth overall. Ziller also slams Karl for trying to get rid of DeMarcus Cousins, for having an up-tempo game plan that doesn’t fit the team’s talent and for having a poor defensive team.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers didn’t waste words when asked about Blake Griffin‘s future in L.A., tweets Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times. “Blake’s ours,” Rivers said, “and he’s going to stay ours.” There have been rumors that the Clippers may consider dealing Griffin in the wake of an incident with an equipment manager that the team reportedly believes could keep him out of action for two months.
Lakers coach Byron Scott has been trying to make rookie D’Angelo Russell feel like he’s earning his minutes, according to Bill Oram of The Orange County Register. In what he says was an effort to keep Russell’s ego under control, Scott pulled him and Julius Randle from the starting lineup on December 7th. “I didn’t want him to just feel, ‘This is who I am. I should be starting on the Lakers because I’m the second pick,’” Scott said. “No, you’re starting because you work hard and you earn it.”

Kings Mull Firing George Karl

February 6th, 2016 at 8:20am CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadive and team executive Vlade Divac were livid enough after the team’s 128-119 loss to the Nets on Friday night, which was the team’s sixth defeat in its last seven outings, that they are strongly weighing firing coach George Karl, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports reports. A league source who was involved in discussions regarding the coach’s job status described the situation as, “An overreaction to the loss,” Wojnarowski adds. The momentum to fire Karl waned enough in the hours following Friday night’s defeat that he will likely be on the sideline for Sunday’s contest in Boston against the Celtics, according to the Vertical scribe.

Regardless of whether or not Karl is calling out sets on Sunday, the issue remains that the embattled coach has lost management’s support as well as some members of the team’s locker room, sources told Wojnarowski. Center DeMarcus Cousins seemingly called out the coaching staff for the team’s continued flaws on the defensive end after the loss to the Nets, telling reporters, “I’m not going to keep blaming these guys 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. I’d rather keep [problems] in house, but we definitely have a bigger issue than just energy and effort. That can’t be the excuse every night. … We’re going to work it out as a team, and hopefully we can fix this.”

It was just under a year ago that Karl was hired to replace interim coach Tyrone Corbin, who had taken over for fired coach Michael Malone in December of 2014. Things have not gone smoothly during Karl’s tenure, with the coach and Cousins seemingly at odds from the very beginning of Karl’s time with the team. The franchise reportedly considered parting ways with Karl last June, mere months after signing him to a four year deal, because of his difficulties with Cousins and Divac. Firing Karl could cause issues with Sacramento’s ownership group as Ranadive has progressively lost the support and belief of the other owners after the past few years of instability within the organization, Wojnarowski notes.

The amount of guaranteed money still owed to Karl could factor into the front office’s decision-making regarding the coach, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com. Karl is earning $3.25MM this season and he is owed $5MM for each of the next two campaigns, though his salary for 2017/18 is only partially guaranteed for $1.5MM. If the team does make a coaching change, league sources have told Stein that assistant coach Nancy Lieberman would not be named interim coach, as had been rumored, but current assistant and former Kings player Corliss Williamson would be a possibility.

And-Ones: Celtics, Sixers, Bender, Free Agency

February 5th, 2016 at 4:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

The unprotected first-rounder that the Nets owe the Celtics for this year’s draft is available for the right price, Boston president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said Thursday in an appearance on the “Dale & Holley with Thornton” show on WEEI radio. That price is high, Ainge cautioned. Sean Deveney of The Sporting News wrote earlier this week that the pick was “definitely not available,” but while that might not technically be true, it sounds like that’s effectively the case for all but the most enticing offers.

“It would have to be, certainly, a very good player. And also it probably wouldn’t be someone in their 30s,” Ainge said to the radio hosts. “That would have to be a good young player, because again, even if we had a 5% or a 10% or a 15% chance at one of the top picks in the draft, that’s worth keeping.”

The Nets pick is No. 3 in the lottery order for now, as our Reverse Standings show, so if that position holds, it would give the Celtics a 17.8% chance at the No. 1 pick and about 50-50 odds of picking somewhere in the top three. See more from around the NBA:

Brett Brown understands the Sixers front office has the task of improving the team for the future, and the roster he has isn’t exactly a coach’s dream, but he would prefer that Philadelphia stands pat at the trade deadline, as he told Tom Moore of Calkins Media. “All coaches beg for consistency,” Brown said. “You feel like your teaching message, your purpose, your points of emphasis have a chance to resonate and be delivered and improved upon better with time.”
Versatility and an underrated toughness are some of the qualities that make Dragan Bender easily the top overseas prospect for the 2016 draft, but as the draft’s youngest prospect, his frame isn’t close to being ready to handle the NBA, according to Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress and The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Still, he’ll almost certainly enter the draft this year, Givony hears, and his vast potential has him No. 3 in Givony’s prospect rankings.
The ability to match competing bids in the summer, an understanding of the player’s contract demands from the extension window, and low rookie scale salaries are reasons why soon-to-be restricted free agents are intriguing trade candidates, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller posits, offering a few names as particularly interesting cases.

D-League Notes: Dukan, Stokes, Motiejunas

February 4th, 2016 at 10:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams possess one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those 11 NBA teams without their own D-League squads this season have to assign players to D-League clubs affiliated with other NBA franchises. We at Hoops Rumors track all the NBA D-League assignments made during the course of the season and you can view the complete tracker, which is updated regularly, here.

Here are the D-League happenings for today:

The Kings have assigned power forward Duje Dukan to their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Dukan’s fifth trip to Reno on the season. The rookie is recovering from a bone contusion in his leg and will continue his rehab with the Bighorns.
Power forward Jarnell Stokes has been assigned to the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Miami’s D-League affiliate, the Heat announced. Stokes has averaged 20.4 points, 9.6 rebounds, 1.1 steals and 1.0 assist in 30.0 minutes of action per night over his previous four D-League stints.
The Jazz assigned center Tibor Pleiss to their D-League affiliate, the team announced via press release. This will be Pleiss’ third trek to Idaho on the campaign.
The Rockets have recalled Donatas Motiejunas from the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, their D-League affiliate, the team announced.