Can the Kings make things work with George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins?

Sam Amick | USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption George Karl passionate about new chapter with Kings Sacramento Kings coach George Karl talks with USA TODAY Sports about new chapter for the Kings and his passion for coaching.

LAS VEGAS — As handshakes go, the one that took place between George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins at halftime of the Sacramento Kings' summer league game on Monday afternoon wasn't the warmest.

But with the relationship between the Kings coach and their centerpiece player clearly frayed, and with so many tuned-in observers wondering if it's past the point of repair, it was a start. The real progress, if it's ever going to happen, will have to take place between now and training camp in October.

With so many observers skeptical that this conflict can ever be resolved, Kings vice president Vlade Divac and Karl told USA TODAY Sports that they're confident there will be a meeting of the minds between now and then. What's more, Divac insisted that Karl will still be the coach by then.

"Of course," he said when asked if Karl would be the coach next season. "Not too many coaches out there who are better than him, so ..."

So while the basketball world watches and wonders where this is all going, they forge ahead.

With Divac just four months into the job, Karl five months in and Cousins less than a month removed from looking like he may be headed to the Los Angeles Lakers, there isn't a more layered and potentially explosive situation in the NBA right now. Kings majority owner Vivek Ranadive is at the center of it all, having saved the team from leaving Sacramento for Seattle two years ago only to cause so many self-inflicted wounds since.

The root of the Karl-Cousins conflict has everything to do with the coach's comments that came immediately after the regular season, when — after the Kings had gone 11-19 under him — the new coach made it clear by way of the media that anyone was tradeable. It was widely known before Karl's hiring that Cousins' representatives had been against the move, and the comments only seemed to confirm the suspicions that this was an imperfect pairing. The two had not spoken during the summer before Monday, despite the fact that Karl was known to have reached out unsuccessfully on several occasions.

Karl, who has approximately $10 million in guaranteed money left on his contract that could run through the 2017-18 season, admitted that there was work to be done here.

"I think it's two guys who met each other for the first time three months ago, who don't like losing, are competitive sons of bitches, and are probably a little stubborn," he told USA TODAY Sports. "There's plenty of time to figure that out. Right now, we're trying to (focus on) the roster."

The plan, predictably, is for Karl and Cousins to have a heart-to-heart meeting of some sort before the season starts. Without it, this iteration of the overhauled Kings is surely destined to be doomed.

"Vlade and I will probably check in with each other (about a meeting with Cousins)," Karl said. "Vlade may be the arbiter on when we make those next steps, but I think both of us want to make them. ... I'd like to have that meeting. But we haven't had that meeting since we were in the season."

Divac, who was heralded during his playing career for his ability to foster chemistry inside any locker room, said the approach isn't complicated.

"They just talk," he told USA TODAY Sports about Karl and Cousins. "It's understanding where they're coming from, where they're both coming from. They want to win. It's frustration. And I'm here to clear that frustration.

"I can't tell you what I'm going to do, but I'm going to do (it). I'm looking at the goal, and the goal is that by October everybody is on the same page. Everything is going to be alright."

For Karl's part, this is nothing he hasn't seen before.

The 64-year-old is sixth all-time on the NBA's coaching list for wins, after all, meaning there's a been-there-done-that factor that certainly applies here. When asked which situations with players from his past may have been similar to this, he cited two polar-opposite examples: Carmelo Anthony (who forced his way out of Denver and battled with Karl at the end) and Gary Payton (the Hall of Fame point guard who raves about his time with Karl to this day).

"Gary hated losing to (the point where it was) a problem, to where he was emotionally immature because of it at times," Karl said. "But once he got in control of it and used it as a motivator, he became a Hall of Fame player. And I think in a lot of ways, Cuz could do the same thing."

Karl spoke while he was surrounded by the Kings' many roster additions, from Rajon Rondo to Marco Bellinelli to Caron Butler, Kosta Koufos, and the re-signed Omri Casspi. Divac also said that the team had come to terms on a one-year deal with veteran forward Luc Mbah a Moute. With Cousins and Rudy Gay continuing as the core and rookie big man Willie Cauley-Stein having been drafted out of Kentucky with the sixth pick, Karl sees better days ahead.

"I think we've moved from a 29-win team to a team that should challenge to be in the 40s and maybe the playoffs," he said. "We've picked up more skills, more talent and more leadership than we had at the end of the season.

"Last year, our backcourt was — whatever — fragile, confusing, frustrating, and I think now we have great skills, different players, play-making players, and competition. (Point guard) Darren (Collison) and Rondo can play together. We can play small."

And, as Karl sees it, they can play big.

"Our big guys are legit," he continued. "Kosta is — I call him a solid NBA pro. I think he'll be great for Willie Cauley-Stein. That competition is good. And then we've got to get Cousins to jump in and commit and play at that All-Star level that we all know we can be.

"There's all this summer drama that I think is actually just a bunch of baloney. It's going to be an exciting season. And when you're a team that's trying to go from 29 wins to 50 wins, there's going to be some discussion of disagreements. That's just the way basketball and the NBA is."

Follow Sam Amick on Twitter @sam_amick.