George Karl has reached an agreement on a four-year, approximately $15 million deal to become the head coach of the Sacramento Kings, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

After spending days discussing a suitable deal with Karl, the Kings have finally hired him to take over for Tyrone Corbin. Apparently, the one factor that was stalling the deal was the lockout year in 2017.

Early rumors suggested that DeMarcus Cousins’ camp was the reason Sacramento was having issues hiring Karl, but Cousins shot those rumors down immediately.

“I wasn’t consulted when the decision was made to fire Mike Malone and I’m not being consulted now,” Cousins said.

Throughout the process of discussing deals with Coach Karl, Sacramento’s players felt very distracted.

“I just hope they make a decision soon and stick with it,” Cousins said earlier in the week. “George Karl is an experienced, proven coach and if that is who they chose to coach this team, I will support it. I do not like all these discussions in the media while we have a coach in place. It is a distraction and not fair to Coach Corbin and this team.”

“It’s been really hard to stay focused with the things going on off the court,” Rudy Gay chimed in as well.   

The Kings will introduce Karl after the All-Star break because they do not want to interfere with DeMarcus Cousins’ first All-Star appearance, according to multiple sources.

It took a long while, but Sacramento has made the correct choice to go with Karl, who is very experienced and excellent at developing young talent.

George Karl has coached five different teams throughout his lengthy coaching career. He started in Cleveland with the Cavaliers and has since coached the Golden State Warriors, Seattle SuperSonics, Milwaukee Bucks, and the Denver Nuggets.  

His most recent stint was with the Nuggets in 2013 when he won Coach of the Year for leading the starless Denver team to a 57-25 record, good for third in the Western Conference. However, he was fired after an unsuccessful playoffs run.

Karl has accumulated a career total of 1131 wins and 756 losses, which is a .599 win percentage. With his ability to establish younger players, guys like Jason Thompson, Ben McLemore, Nik Stauskas, Darren Collison, and even DeMarcus Cousins, should benefit from his coaching.

According to Yahoo, the final year of Karl’s contract includes a $1.5 million buyout provision.