The Sacramento Kings, increasingly concerned about their floundering play under George Karl, entered the weekend hoping to delay any decisions about Karl's future until the All-Star break, according to the league sources.
But sources told ESPN that the nature of the team's loss Friday night in Brooklyn and all of the fallout it generated -- Sacramento's sixth loss in seven games -- has the Kings contemplating an immediate coaching change.
The Kings have three road games remaining before the break: Sunday in Boston, Monday in Cleveland and Wednesday in Philadelphia. It was not immediately clear if Karl would survive to coach all three of them or who the Kings would choose to succeed Karl as interim coach if they do decide to make a change in coming days, but NBA coaching sources said early Saturday that it is unlikely Kings assistant coach Nancy Lieberman would take over.