National Basketball Association

Report: George Karl to Kings looking less likely

Published Feb. 7, 2015 12:45 p.m. ET

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UPDATE: It's looking less likely that George Karl will be hired as coach of the Sacramento Kings, Yahoo! Sports and FOX Sports 1 NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski reports.

The Sacramento Kings are in serious talks with George Karl about their head coach position, according to reports.

The Sacramento Bee cited multiple sources saying the NBA team is "engaged in intense conversations" with the 2013 NBA Coach of the Year about taking over the Kings' head-coaching slot, vacated after Michael Malone was fired after only 24 games in December.

Sacramento assistant coach Tyrone Corbin had stepped in Kings interim coach with the idea that he would complete the season. But Sacramento's (17-31 through Friday) ongoing slump, including the embarrassing 101-78 loss to the Dallas Mavericks at home on Thursday, has apparently prompted Kings principal owner Vivek Ranadive and GM Pete D'Alessandro to move things along more quickly.

According to the Bee:

Karl, 63, has publicly expressed interest in returning to coaching since he left the Denver Nuggets in 2013, most recently posting on Twitter Friday morning that he "would love the opportunity" to take the Orlando Magic seat vacated after Jacque Vaughn was let go on Thursday. But later that night Karl apparently told ESPN's "NBA Tonight" that he wasn't sure if the Orlando organization had interest in him.