The Oklahoma City Thunder play the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. Tipoff is at 10:30 p.m. ET. Watch the live stream below.
Sacramento (11-13) begins their journey without head coach Mike Malone, whom the team fired on Sunday after losing all but two of their last 10 games. The Sacramento Bee reported there was a "chasm" between Malone and management, supposedly over his style of offense, and general manager Pete D'Alessandro didn't deny that as being the reason.
"It wasn't about wins and losses," he said, via ESPN. "I don't really care what our record was. It's really about who we want to be, what we want our identity to be as a team."
Assistant Ty Corbin was promoted to interim head coach, but it's uncertain if he will retain the position for the entirety of the season. So far, there appears to be one frontrunner for the job: former Denver Nuggets coach George Karl.
"It may be surprising that Kings fired their coach while their top player has been sick, but anyone who has watched them knows why he is gone," ESPN's David Thorpe tweeted Sunday. "... Fair to wonder how Kings would be playing for George Karl. Athletes. Depth. Potential for their (small forwards) to play (power forward) and go really fast."
ESPN's Marc Stein and Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski also named Karl as a likely candidate for the job, especially given his previous working relationship with D'Alessandro in Denver.
Oklahoma City, meanwhile, is 6-1 since Kevin Durant returned to the lineup. He's averaging 20 points in just under 30 minutes per game, slowly transitioning back into game speed after missing the first month of the season because of a broken foot.
Watch the live stream HERE.