ESPN Reporter Kevin Arnovitz wrote a really interesting piece Friday that pondered the strenuous and unsuccessful relationship between the Sacramento Kings and DeMarcus Cousins and wondered whether DeMarcus Cousins has been the Kings undoing or if the Kings dysfunctional organization has been Cousins downfall in his career thus far.
The article breaks down numerous situations that have occurred in Cousins tenor in the NBA and the timeline of different incidents with reporters and coaches among others in his career.
Here is a fun recollection from the piece of a fight between Cousins and former Kings and current Denver Nuggets Coach Mike Malone. Mind you, the one head coach Cousins truly liked and respected:
Cousins is having one of those days too, dead tired from what seems to have been an almost intentionally sadistic practice. And when Malone yells at the team to line up to run sprints, Cousins turns defiant: “F— this, man. I’m not running!”
And then, as Cousins recalls, “every bit of 5-9 Mike Malone comes up to me and says, ‘Motherf—er, you’re going to run or you’re going to get the f— out of my practice, you big p—y!’ And I say, ‘I ain’t running, Mike!'”
Malone promptly shows Cousins the door.
Here is another about Cousins losing his cool during a film session with Tyrone Corbin, who took over on an interim basis after Malone:
Why don’t we play film of all of this motherf—er’s mistakes?” Cousins shouts to the room, according to a then-teammate, pointing at Corbin. Corbin tries to explain that there’s no intent to single out any one player’s mistakes. Their recent performances, he says, have been teamwide failures. But Cousins is inconsolable. “Show ’em!”
Teammates don’t intervene. Corbin again urges Cousins to calm down. Cousins instead walks out of the film room and doesn’t return. When asked about the episode nearly two years later, Cousins confirms it — as well as his regular insubordination toward Corbin in practices, huddles and meetings.
Cousins has since regretted how he treated Corbin and how Corbin was put in a horrible position that he wasn’t set up to succeed in.
The articles breaks down the bizarre and dishonest decisions the organization has made on a consistent basis the past six years including firing Malone and then asking for Cousins input. Telling Cousins that Karl wasn’t going to be hired and then telling him that Karl was fired months before it actually occurred.
The most interesting bits about the story though are from an anonymous NBA general manager’s comments on Cousins and how they view him.
Here is the excerpt from Arnovitz’s story:
One general manager says he wakes up every day hoping one of his rivals trades for Cousins. Another says “No f—ing way” when asked whether he’d ever consider dealing for him.
Here is the full story: The Madness of Kings
It seems as though there is a 50-50 split on whether the emotion and volatile nature of Cousins is worth the immense talent around the league, we’ll see if the Kings are finally ready to pull the trigger and deal him to one of the teams that do still think he’s worth the trouble.
