The Karl-Kings union was doomed from the start

After nearly a year of constant turmoil and strife, the Sacramento Kings finally appear to be on the verge of dismissing head coach George Karl, as ESPN's Marc Stein reported Monday evening.

Here's a history of how Karl's tumultuous tenure in Sacramento unfolded.

A rocky start

Fissures formed from the moment Karl took office.

DeMarcus Cousins' camp never liked Karl. The temperamental center only ever warmed up to Karl's predecessor Mike Malone. When Malone was unceremoniously dropped in favor of Ty Corbin, and later Karl, Cousins failed to replicate the same trust he held for Malone.

There was also bad blood between Karl and Cousins' representatives. Cousins' day-to-day agent Jarrin Akana was demoted from assistant coach to the role of scout when Karl took over the reigns in Denver in 2005. Karl's son Colby also fired Dan Fegan, Cousins' lead agent, after several years of representation.

That camp was never in favor of hiring Karl in the first place, USA Today's Sam Amick reported last February. Amick also reported last February that there was "serious resistance" to Karl's hiring from several minority owners.

Despite the pushback, majority owner Vivek Ranadive went through with the hiring anyway, inking Karl to a four-year, $15-million deal.

Feuding with the franchise

The Kings' front office, as usual, was in a state of instability when Karl first took over. With no central authority in charge, Karl took certain liberties with front-office decisions.

Almost immediately, reports emerged that Karl assumed some control over the roster. That was validated shortly thereafter when Karl brought in one of his favorites in Andre Miller. Then, after the team went 11-19 to finish the year under Karl's watch, he pontificated during locker room cleanouts that he never had an untradeable player - including Cousins.

The problem would only worsen in the summer. A bombshell report from Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski in June claimed that Karl clamored for players and executives alike to unite in supporting his push to trade Cousins. Karl even went as far as to discuss trade possibilities with other teams.

An hour after Wojnarowski's report dropped, Cousins echoed a popular sentiment among Karl's former players.

At this point, the Kings had to veer sharply towards damage control. Then vice president (now general manager) Vlade Divac publicly threw his team's support behind Cousins.

Meanwhile, Karl called Wojnarowski's report "a lot of crazy, crazy fibs and lies." However, Karl didn't fully come around in supporting Cousins as Divac did. He challenged Cousins to be committed, something Sacramento Bee reporter Jason Jones characterized as "a low blow" for Cousins, who had stood by the Kings through five years of non-stop turmoil.

Two days later, Cousins reiterated his commitment to the Kings, saying that he "absolutely" wanted to stay in Sacramento.

At the end of it all, no one was particularly happy. Cousins and Karl both remained on the roster, and Ranadive was frustrated with Karl because he had initially believed Karl would stay out of personnel decisions. Divac even had to publicly remind Karl that it was he, not Karl, who was in charge of building the team.

"He has to trust me to do my job," Divac said plainly.

A predictable ending

It was something of a miracle that Karl and Cousins even made it through the summer.

Things improved temporarily when Karl eventually made nice. He wore a Cousins jersey to a Kings fundraiser, then apologized for the "untradeable" remark. Cousins accepted the olive branch and called his relationship with Karl "solid" at media day.

The halcyon days lasted all of a month. After a 1-7 start to the season, Cousins reportedly unleashed a tirade of profanities against Karl. The morning thereafter, Divac held a team meeting to hammer out differences, which was later followed by an apology from Cousins. That wasn't good enough for Karl, however, as he reportedly wanted Cousins suspended two games as punishment.

Cousins wasn't suspended. Instead, he put up 109 points and 32 rebounds over a three-game win streak. The Kings would eventually climb out of the league's basement and into a playoff spot on the back of Cousins' brilliance by January, but then it came undone yet again.

The Kings have lost eight of their last nine while hemorrhaging an average of 118 points per game. Along the way, Karl has given increasingly hostile comments about his team's effort, while Cousins hinted towards "bigger issues than energy and effort."

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Then came the final blow. Almost a year to the day to his hiring, another report from Wojnarowski on Saturday suggested that the Kings were seriously contemplating firing Karl, before Stein all but confirmed the coming coaching change on Monday.

Divac and Ranadive were reportedly livid after the Kings coughed up 128 points to the lowly Brooklyn Nets on Friday, and that he had rapidly lost support in management and some in the locker room.

A 128-119 loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday and Monday's 120-100 blowout courtesy of the Cleveland Cavaliers sealed the deal.