http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/kings/2016/02/06/george-karl-job-in-jeopardy-locker-room-tension-kings/79919658/George Karl's job with Kings in jeopardy again?George Karl is in trouble — again.
Less than two weeks after the Sacramento Kings’ five-game winning streak had them in position to make the playoffs for the first time in a decade, all the familiar signs of discontent returned after a 128-119 loss at the Brooklyn Nets and, for the second time this season, their head coach’s future is clearly being debated internally. The lackluster loss was the Kings’ sixth in the last seven games, dropping them 3½ games behind the eighth-place Portland Trail Blazers and prompting all sorts of curious comments from Kings players and former players alike.
First and foremost on that list? The epicenter of all things Kings, center DeMarcus Cousins.
"I’m not going to keep blaming these guys in the locker room," Cousins told reporters. "Energy and effort is a huge part of the game, but I’m not going to keep blaming it on that. We’ve got a bigger issue, and we need to figure it out as a team.
"I’d rather keep (the undescribed issue) 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."
Former Kings point guard Bobby Jackson — whose former teammates, Kings general manager Vlade Divac and director of player personnel Peja Stojakovic, make up two-thirds of the team’s front office — called for Karl’s firing on the team’s telecast. When it was pointed out that Karl had been hired after the All-Star break last season, Jackson said, "It can be post All-Star break that he can leave too. There ain’t nothing wrong with it. It’s just the business."
In contrast to a Nov. 9 loss to the San Antonio Spurs that had Karl on the verge of being fired and was followed by a locker room dust-up in which Cousins cursed out his coach, this is a far less dramatic hoops crisis. From Karl’s league-high pace of play (102 possessions per 48 minutes) and the impact it has on their awful defense (22nd in the NBA; 105.7 points allowed per 100 possessions) to the continuing questions about his diminished energy level, the frustration sparked by the 64-year-old coach’s style continues to build. The defense has been even worse in this recent seven-game stretch, as the Kings have allowed 110.4 points allowed per 100 possessions.
The key question that Kings ownership and management has pondered for much of the season, however, is whether or not they’re willing to pay the price that would come with firing Karl or whether they could perhaps convince him to resign and agree to a buyout. When Karl was hired last February, he was given a $15 million deal through the summer of 2018 that included $11.5 million in guaranteed money.
Yet while former head coaches like Scott Brooks, Tom Thibodeau and Mark Jackson are known to have been on the Kings’ radar for quite some time and are currently available, firing Karl now would complicate the process of conducting a more thorough coaching search. The Kings play at the Boston Celtics on Sunday, at the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday and at the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday before the All-Star break. Whether or not Karl makes it that long remains to be seen.
Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @sam_amick.