Denver Nuggets coach George Karl skipped a charity golf tournament because he wasn't feeling well enough to play, sending his son as a substitute.
And his son brought along a cheery update on his dad's battle with throat and neck cancer.
Nuggets guard Coby Karl said he thinks his father will be back on the bench for the start of next season after missing Denver's playoff run as he recovered from an intense six-week regimen of chemotherapy.
"From the way I see it, I think there's no doubt in my mind," Coby Karl said Monday after playing in a tournament put on by the American Cancer Society. "But you've got to take it on a day-to-day basis with the situation."
George Karl is on his way back after an arduous ordeal that led to a feeding tube being inserted into his stomach because the efforts to kill the tumor caused mouth and throat sores that made swallowing food too painful.
Coby Karl said his father has lost a lot of weight and still struggles to eat.
"But he's definitely much improved from when I got here for the start of this," said Coby Karl, a cancer survivor himself after having lymph nodes removed a few years ago. "He's doing well. But his energy level isn't up to par with what he needs to do out on a golf course for multiple hours at a time."
That hasn't prevented George Karl from dropping by the office from time to time, just to return some phone calls and keep in the loop. He even traveled to Milwaukee recently to visit some friends.
As for the NBA playoffs, he's been constantly watching.
"He's a basketball junkie," his son said. "He sees almost every game that he can, unless he's traveling or he has a prior engagement. I would say he's seen about 90 percent of the playoffs."
George Karl, who turned 59 in May, has said he intends to return to coaching later this summer, health willing.
WALKER ORDERED TO FACE TRIAL: A judge on Monday ordered former NBA all-star Antoine Walker to face trial on felony bad check charges that allege he failed to repay almost $1 million in gambling debts and penalties to three Las Vegas casinos.
The 33-year-old Walker said nothing as he appeared Monday with his lawyer, Jonathan Powell, before Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Melanie Andress-Tobiasson. He remains free without bail until his June 30 arraignment in state court.
Walker could get probation or be sent to prison for up to 12 years if he's convicted.