Skip to content

John Calipari denies Sacramento Kings rumors: 'I will be at Kentucky'

Bob Donnan / Reuters

Kentucky head men's basketball coach John Calipari took to Twitter on Tuesday to squash rumors he's considering leaving Lexington to become head coach of the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

For the 100th time, I have the best basketball coaching position in the world. I am not looking for any other coaching position.

At no time has (Kings owner Vivek Ranadive) offered me a job. I WILL BE AT KENTUCKY.

A report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports indicated the Kings were considering making a run at acquiring Calipari's services amid issues with current head coach George Karl.

Wojnarowski noted that Kings ownership understood a multiyear package of $10 million-plus annually would be required for Calipari to seriously consider the move.

Calipari said his contact with the Kings revolved around his relationship with Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, who played for the Wildcats in 2009-10, and newly drafted big man Willie Cauley-Stein.

Since he bought the team, (Ranadive) and I have talked on and off about (Cousins).

(Ranadive) has asked me what I thought about (Cousins) and I told him he would be an all-star, and I was right.

In the last two weeks, we've also talked a bunch about the draft and on draft day, obviously because of (Cauley-Stein).

Calipari's Wildcats just completed a 38-1 season, earning a trip to the Final Four for the fourth time in five seasons.

Daily Newsletter

Get the latest trending sports news daily in your inbox