Sacramento Kings' Head Coach Search: Latest Rumors and Speculation on Position

It's been an interesting week for the Sacramento Kings. After an 11-13 start to the 2014-15 NBA season, the Kings parted ways with head coach Mike Malone on Monday, per ESPN.com. While George Karl, Chris Mullen, Vinny Del Negro and Mark Jackson seemed like possibilities for the franchise, the Kings lifted Tyrone Corbin's interim head coach tag for the remainder of the season.

Continue for updates.

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Corbin Has Interim Tag Lifted

Wednesday, Dec. 31

Tyrone Corbin revealed that he has had his interim head coach tag lifted for the remainder of the season, via ESPN.com news services:

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Corbin spoke before the game against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday. He replaced fired coach Michael Malone on Dec. 15.

Corbin says the team can "relax on that part of it and focus more on the games."

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Kings Not Serious About Mark Jackson

Sunday, Dec. 21

Aaron Bruski of Pro Basketball Talk reported on the state of negotiations surrounding the head coach position with the Sacramento Kings:

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Now sources tell PBT that though the team is still very interested in hiring Karl, they are hesitant to pay an expected asking price in the range of $5 million per year or more.

In the meantime they have allowed themselves to be connected to former Warriors coach Mark Jackson, staging a not-so-secret meeting at Sleep Train Arena following Thursday’s nationally televised game that Jackson called for ESPN.

Sources tell PBT that Jackson has “no chance” of being the Kings’ next coach, adding that the meeting was both personal in nature and mutually beneficial for all parties – sending Karl a message at the negotiating table and for Jackson, keeping his name in the news as a future head coaching candidate.

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Kings Contact Vinny Del Negro

Tuesday, Dec. 16

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated has the latest on the Kings' coaching search:

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Kings Interested in Chris Mullen

Monday, Dec. 15

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports has more:

Mullin, who is currently an advisor for the Kings, has never held a head coaching position in the NBA, though he was executive vice president of basketball operations for the Golden State Warriors prior to joining the Kings.

And with former players like Jason Kidd and Derek Fisher being given high-profile coaching gigs despite a lack of experience in the role, Mullin's hiring wouldn't be terribly unorthodox in the modern NBA were it to happen. 

Still, per Sam Amick of USA Today, Corbin will get his shot to prove he should stick as the head coach:

However, Amick is hearing buzz about George Karl being considered for the gig:

Karl later spoke about the Kings job, via Tom Byrne of Sirius XM:

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Regarding #SacKings, George Karl telling me on @SiriusXMNBA "I'm humbled. If they're interested in me, I'm interested in them" #NBA

— Tom Byrne (@1TomByrne) December 15, 2014"

It will be difficult for Corbin to lead the Kings to the postseason given how loaded the Western Conference is this season. But if he can keep the team in contention while playing the style Sacramento's ownership prefers, he may be able to shed the interim tag in the offseason.

With several high-profile names reportedly in the running for the gig, though, Corbin will need to really impress to extend his tenure.