George Karl Illness: Latest on Kings Coach's Status and Return

Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl will miss his team's game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday because of an illness.

Continue for updates.

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Karl Out at Least One Game

Thursday, Jan. 28

Grant Napear of CBS Sports 1140 first reported Karl would miss the game, and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports confirmed the coach is out with gastroenteritis.

According to Napear, associate head coach Chad Iske will replace Karl, who recently moved into fifth place on the NBA's all-time coaching wins list. 

The Kings, who began the season 1-7, have won five of their past seven games and crept into the Western Conference playoff race at 20-25. Karl, 63, coached the final 30 games for the Kings last year, going 11-19. He now has them in a respectable position for a franchise that has not made the playoffs since the 2005-06 season.

Iske is in his second year with the Kings after spending two years as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers. Prior to that, he spent 14 years with the Denver Nuggets, serving under Karl for five of them.

The Kings will look to end a two-game losing streak without Karl in the second game of a three-game road trip.