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George Karl was briefly shown during Game 2 of the Western Conference finals between the LA Lakers and Denver Nuggets. Karl coached the Nuggets from 2005 to 2013, and was inducted to the Naismith Memorial National Basketball Hall of Fame last year.
With less than 30 seconds left in the game, cameras caught Karl watching the game from the VIP balcony box. He looked serious as Jamal Murray was trying to put the game away from the free throw line.
The Nuggets eventually came out on top 108-103 to gain a 2-0 series lead over the Lakers. However, some fans were concerned about the 72-year-old coach looking frail. They wondered if Karl was battling some kind of illness in recent years.
According to his Twitter profile, George Karl is a three-time cancer survivor. It appears he's not dealing with anything and was just noticeably thinner now than he was during his coaching days.
Karl was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2005 and defeated it. He then had head and neck cancer five years later, which caused him to take a leave of absence from the Nuggets during the 2010 playoffs.
Several years later, Karl was then diagnosed with melanoma of the eye. He survived his third cancer diagnosis, eventually receiving the Melanoma Research Foundation's Courage Award in 2019.
"I don't wake up worrying about cancer," Karl told USA Today back in 2020. "But if my back hurts, I think it's cancer. If my shoulder hurts, I think it's bone cancer. The first thing I think is cancer. Once you have cancer, you have a higher risk of getting another cancer, I know that. But my health is probably as good as it’s been in about 15 or 20 years."
George Karl's coaching career
George Karl was a fourth round pick of the New York Knicks in the 1973 NBA draft. However, Karl opted to sign with the San Antonio Spurs who were playing at the ABA at the time. The Spurs entered the NBA in 1976, so Karl was able to play in the league until his retirement in 1978.
Karl began his coaching career as an assistant for the Spurs until 1980. His first head coaching gig was for the Montana Golden Nuggets of the CBA. He made it to the NBA in 1984 as the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He also briefly coached the Golden State Warriors from 1986 to 1988.
However, the Hall of Fame coach was best known for his stint with the Seattle SuperSonics from 1992 to 1998. It culminated in an NBA Finals matchup with the Chicago Bulls in 1996.
George Karl also coached the Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings. He has not been on the sideline since 2016, but has not ruled out coaching again. He's also the sixth winningest coach in NBA history with 1,999 victories.
In the meantine, Karl currently hosts his own podcast called Truth + Basketball.
