Sacramento Kings Fire Head Coach Michael Malone

The Sacramento Kings have decided to part ways with their head coach Michael Malone, according to several media reports.

The Kings (11-13) started off the season strong with a 9-6 record before losing their star player, DeMarcus Cousins due to viral meningitis, a life threatening illness. Without their center, the Kings went 2-7 over the last nine games and fell below .500. Even though the Kings' poor performance could be linked directly to losing Cousins, ownership has decided that Malone was the one to go.

Sources stated, reported by Sam Amick with USATODAY Sports and Adrian Wojnarowski with Yahoo! Sports that Malone was fired due to philosophical differences between the head coach and general manager Pete D'Alessandro, who wants the team to play up-tempo.

Amick wrote: "The inherent nature of the coaching and management situation made the Kings' inner workings difficult from the start, as owner Vivek Ranadive had made the extremely unconventional decision to hire his coach before his general manager in the summer of 2013 and in doing so set the stage for the sorts of stylistic disagreements that predictably ensued."

"There has been significant tension between management and Malone on several fronts over the past year, and the firing ultimately turned out to be another cautionary tale in what happens when ownership doesn't put together management and coaching staffs that have similar philosophies and a shared partnership," Wojnarowski added.

Malone joined the Kings during the 2013-2014 season. His contract had a $9.4 million guarantee over three years with a team option for the 2016-2017 season. Assistant coach Tyrone Corbin will step in as the interim coach for most likely the rest of the regular season. However, sources believe that the Kings will hire a new coach down the line.

The Kings will host the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday.