DeMarcus Cousins Found Out on Twitter That Kings Fired Coach Mike Malone

The Sacramento Kings' firing of coach Mike Malone came as a bit of a surprise to everyone, including the players.

That might be because the organization apparently didn't even let the players know about the change of command before the news hit the Internet.

Late Sunday night (on the West Coast), Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Malone had been fired:

Malone was just starting his second season at the helm.

Sacramento (11-13) was just a half-game out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, which may actually have exceeded expectations. However, that apparently wasn't good enough for the organization.

How did some of the players hear? DeMarcus Cousins—the Kings' centerpiece—discovered what happened via Twitter, according to USA Today's Sam Amick:

That's a rough way to find out about a franchise-altering move.

The news came as a shock to Cousins, per Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee:

Now, the players have to move on and try to make the best of an unfortunate situation.