NBA Trade Rumors: Are Kings shopping DeMarcus Cousins?

DeMarcus Cousins may be the star player of the Sacramento Kings, but has general manager Vlade Divac had enough of Cousins’ antics? Will he be available?

Sacramento Kings general manager made his first bold decision on April 14th by firing head coach George Karl after the Kings failed to reach the Western Conference Playoffs for the 10th consecutive season. While this was largely expected since Divac didn’t hire Karl and the Kings were as dysfunctional as ever under his coaching tenure, Divac has some big decisions to make about who will be the next head coach in Sacramento.

The Sacramento Bee’s Ailene Voisin writes that Divac may not want to cater to the Kings’ All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins when picking Sacramento’s next head coach. Cousins has had five head coaches in the last five seasons with the Kings (Paul Westphal, Keith Smart, Michael Malone, Tyrone Corbin, Karl) and Divac is not going to pander to Cousins’ demands for their next head coach.

Voisin believes that Divac would part ways with Cousins for the right offer with this paragraph of text: “A year ago, Cousins was untouchable. A year later, the sense within the organization is Divac is tempted by the prospect of pairing his center with his personally selected coach but that he has increasingly become frustrated by his center’s ongoing issues and, for the first time, is willing to test the market for the two-time All-Star.”

Cousins has two years left on his deal with the Kings, so Sacramento best act quickly if it does wish to move him this offseason before opening up brand new Golden 1 Center in Downtown Sacramento this fall.

Really the only coach Cousins gelled with was Malone, who now coaches the Denver Nuggets. Malone was run out of town because Sacramento owner Vivek Ranadive wanted to have his team play at an up-tempo pace, something neither Cousins or Malone wanted to do.

Unless Divac is cool with Cousins hand selecting a coach that will play at a sluggish pace, he may want to see what he can get in return for the often-disgruntled All-Star big man. He still has immense value as an All-Star caliber player, but he simply cannot endure another coaching firing in Sacramento.

Cousins is rapidly cementing a reputation as a coach killer in his young NBA career and no self-respecting front office will want that type of player anywhere near their organization. If Divac is going to sell high on Cousins, he must do so swiftly.

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