Vlade Divac admits to getting less than he could have for DeMarcus Cousins
The Sacramento Kings didn’t seem to get enough for DeMarcus Cousins, but general manager Vlade Divac has now admitted it.
The biggest NBA news on Sunday night did not center around the All-Star Game, but instead on DeMarcus Cousins being traded from the Sacramento Kings to the host New Orleans Pelicans to team up with Anthony Davis.
Based on volume of the return and the removal of a divisive presence, getting three players and two draft picks for Cousins may look like a win for the Kings. But when the three players are rookie Buddy Hield and the oft-injured Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway, and only one of the draft picks is a first-rounder (top-3 protected for 2017), it’s automatically worth wondering if there was a better deal out there for Cousins.
On Monday, during a press conference talking about the trade, Kings’ general manager Vlade Divac sounded like a defeated man.
Yes, Divac openly acknowledged having a better offer for Cousins just two days ago, or one day before doing the deal with the Pelicans. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported the Los Angeles Lakers were in on a potential trade for Cousins, but when the Kings asked for Brandon Ingram talks stalled. It stands to reason that the proverbial “better offer” didn’t come from the Lakers.
Cousins (or his agent) probably had some say in where he was traded to, which may have forced Divac’s hand to take whatever he could get from a small circle of teams. Perhaps the Pelicans were the only team that would engage in trade talks after the bridge with the Lakers was burned by a high asking price from the Kings.
Next: Three reasons the DeMarcus Cousins-Anthony Davis pairing will work
The Kings have been a dysfunctional organization for quite some time, cycling through coaches nearly every year. The list of questionable personnel moves by Divac, with likely input from owner Vivek Ranadive, only grows with the Cousins trade. Maybe Divac wants to be fired, and who could really blame him?