All is quiet on the DeMarcus Cousins trade rumor front for a change, but some NBA executives don’t expect it to stay that way
From Sam Amico of Amico Hoops:
The Sacramento Kings are off to another lousy start, another start that makes the playoffs seem like a pipe dream — again.
So is this the season they finally trade All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins?
“I’d say it’s 50-50,” said one Western Conference executive. “If not, it’s not necessarily because they want to keep him.”
Instead, several team executives and general managers told Amico Hoops the Kings are only holding on to Cousins because they have no other choice.
“They’ll never get what they want in return,” said an East GM. “They think Cousins is worth more than he actually is. He hurts you every bit as much as he helps you. He’s like a cheeseburger, or booze. Too much and you’ll pay a price.”
A third team executive told Amico Hoops that Kings GM Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive have indeed explored moving Cousins, albeit in a “passive-aggressive” and “secretive” manner.
“They try to act like they would never ever trade him, but why not?” one GM said. “That team stinks. They have since (Cousins) got there.”
The Sacramento Kings are 3-5, so their case technically isn’t hopeless. But the idea that they could obtain even the No. 7 or No. 8 playoff seed in the Western Conference was always farfetched. They aren’t built to defend, even with noted defensive architect Dave Joerger running things on the sidelines, and the offense is adjusting to a half-court-oriented attack that bears little resemblance to the faster-paced machine they’ve been running since Mike Malone’s departure.
This is to say it’s unlikely the Kings turn things around, because this is their ceiling. And with Cousins slated for free agency in 2018, they’ll have to at least start thinking about moving him so they can capitalize on a departure that, barring a complete internal about-face, at this point feels unavoidable.
Whether the Kings comes to terms with that this season, over the summer or next season remains to be seen. But, given the state of the team and Cousins’ contract, you can bet this isn’t the last we hear about a potential trade.
