Intrepid ESPN Reporter Zach Lowe confirmed some of the longstanding rumors of Cousins being a nightmare behind the scenes on his podcast, “The Lowe Post” on Monday.
When discussing and reacting to the blockbuster trade that sent Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night, Lowe talked with fellow ESPN Reporter Brian Windhorst about how much of a bully Cousins was to his own teammates at times and particularly how poorly he treated former Kings shooting guard and No. 8 pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, Nik Stauskus.
Here is Lowe during his podcast:
“DeMarcus Cousins Ruined Nik Stauskus, or almost did. The stories about DeMarcus Cousins berating Nik Stauskus, threatening to fight Nik Stauskus on the plane to China when they were going there for a pre-season game or whenever that was two years ago, he ruined Nik Stauskus where he had to go somewhere else.”
Very juicy tidbit by Lowe with a specific example of how Cousins interacted with teammates and had a reputation for being a bully and hard to play with.
Here is another quote from a Sacramento Bee story by Ailene Voisin from August of 2016 about his strained relationship with teammates, coaches and management:
The disconnect between Karl and Divac, and Karl and Cousins, is rivaled closely by the discord within the fragmented locker room. Apart from Rondo, Cousins has few friends among his teammates. Several players privately have complained to management about his mood swings and disrespect for those around him, including his coaches and in particular Karl.
Even the Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear had no problem detailing how much teammates in Sacramento disliked Cousins as a teammate:
And here's maybe the most important thing. Most of Cousin's teammates the past 7 years hated playing with him! That is a fact!
— Grant Napear (@GrantNapearshow) February 20, 2017
Expect the floodgates to open with more stories of the DeMarcus Cousins era in Sacramento. We can only hope the mighty powers of “The Brow” are enough to tame Boogie in the Big Easy.
