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Report: George Karl’s Relationship with Kings Owner “Strained”

There can’t be a single person outside of the Sacramento Kings organization who didn’t see this coming. Following multiple reports indicating that Kings head coach George Karl is pushing the team to trade DeMarcus Cousins, comes this dandy from Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix:

Ya think?

By now the story is well documented. While the Kings front office, owner Vivek Ranadive included, have denied that the team has Cousins on the trade block, other reports have suggested that Karl has been working behind the scenes to drum up support for a trade. And in a situation that makes the entire organization look bad, Yahoo Sports NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski just recently reported that the Kings have discussed the parameters of a potential Cousins deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.

We don’t really have to dig deep into our inductive reasoning skills to figure out what is going on here. Karl likely didn’t want Cousins on the team when he took the job during the 2014-15 season. Despite this, the enigmatic head coach indicated otherwise during the interview process:

What does this all mean? The Kings have a franchise-altering decision to make—one that could shape the organization for years to come. They have to choose between keeping their All-Star center or a 64-year-old head coach. They likely have to do so within the next few hours.

Per Wojnarowski’s previous report, there doesn’t seem to be a possibility that Karl and Cousins can coexist moving forward. If that’s the case, the next few hours will be one where tension takes over the Kings’ facility leading up to the draft, especially if the Lakers continue to make a strong play for Cousins.

Photo: USA Today Sports

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