The Sacramento Kings and owner Vivek Ranadive may have even more tricks up their sleeves for the near future.
While Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report hinted last week that the Kings are eyeing Kentucky patriarch John Calipari as their next head coach and are hoping to make Cal an offer he can’t refuse, the report also said that Ranadive is entertaining the idea of promoting current team assistant Nancy Lieberman to the head coaching position, with incumbent George Karl essentially being a dead man walking:
The belief still is it’s a matter of when, not if, Karl will be removed as the head coach. If that should happen during this season, the short-term answers are, according to owner Vivek Ranadivé – or sources say – he would like to move Nancy Lieberman into the head-coaching position, making a big splash by having the first female head coach in NBA history.
Lieberman, 57, was hired by the team over the summer, becoming the second female assistant in NBA history after Becky Hammon of the San Antonio Spurs. She boasts a wave of coaching and front office experience both at the WNBA-level and in the NBA D-League and is a widely-respected figure in basketball circles.
Still, being a head coach in the Association is an entirely different animal, especially for someone who was just hired into the league less than four months ago.
It seems like the point of emphasis for Ranadive and the Kings is still just that, “making a big splash,” instead of promoting winning basketball, which gives us a glimpse into the rampant dysfunction that continues to plague this franchise.
H/T NBA Reddit
