After an emotional return to Sacramento, DeMarcus Cousins is moving forward

In the bowels of the Golden 1 Center, the cement has a chilling effect. It stretches voices a bit longer. The muted bustling of fans, eager and excited, could be heard from the tunnel. Wires from this and that get in the way. Today, some of them belonged to TNT’s gizmos for a national broadcast. Around the country, people wanted to know how the night would play out. Reporters are usually allowed to enter the locker room and talk with the players before the game. Not today. This is no ordinary game but, when it comes to DeMarcus Cousins, nothing is ordinary.

This was Cousins’ first game back in Sacramento since the Kings traded him to the New Orleans Pelicans in February. “I was super nervous coming in,” Cousins said after the game. “The anticipation was through the roof.”

“Everybody is a little emotional when you come back, when somebody told you that they don’t want you anymore,” said Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry. “But [Cousins] understands that at the end of the day you got to play the game. To say that it’s just another game, I don’t think anybody out here believes that, because it’s not. If you ask anybody else that has been traded or a coach that had been fired, they’ll tell you the same thing: ‘Oh, it’s just another game,’ and that’s not true.”

Cousins didn’t speak to the media before the game, and made them wait for an hour after the game. Cousins often treats the media like you might treat Uber drivers. You feel obligated to talk to them, but if there was a built-in option not to, you’d gladly pay double to avoid any interaction.  The best Uber experiences are when the driver clearly has no interest in the passenger, who is left alone to peruse Twitter in peace. For Cousins, it’s easy to imagine his best post-games are when Anthony Davis is the team’s leading scorer. Unfortunately for Cousins, he was the star tonight.

After the game in the locker room, he walked out from the shower and asked the scrum of reporters if he could put his clothes on first. Muddled and empathetic approvals responded to him. He parted the sea of media, grabbed a handful of garments from his locker, and retreated back to the shower area. After another few minutes, he walked back to his locker and sat down. Some questions about his performance — Cousins played 44 minutes, posting 41 points, 23 rebounds and six assists while leading an Anthony Davis-less Pelicans team to a win — and then questions about his return.

“It was a special night,” Cousins said. “The fans were beautiful, they were into the game, they let it be well known they hated every shot I made but now I see how other players feel when I used to be on this side, on the other side of the fence. I can remember games where the crowd was the reason we won it. It’s well known the Kings have incredible fans. They showed up tonight.”

The Sacramento crowd was speckled with No. 15 jerseys. There were some new Nike No.5 jerseys, too, for those embracing the future, and some older No. 4’s donned by those who have cheered for the team for decades. The fans of Sacramento are used to a torturous existence. On some level, they can relate to Boogie. When Cousins was introduced for the Pelicans, they lost their damn minds. Later in the game, the Kings presented a ham-handed thank you video. Cousins graciously walked to the middle of the court and saluted the fans. Pandemonium. More cowbell.

It was good to get the win but, for Cousins, better to get it over with.

“My whole focus in the first half was not getting caught up into everything circling around the game,” Cousins said. “Just trying to stay poised, stay focused on the game and just win, and that’s what I did.”

It was a close game, 114-106. The Pelicans won because of Boogie’s dominance. Stars are hard to get in the NBA, and it can be ever harder to decide to trade one away. To the credit of both the Kings and Cousins, the two sides tried to make it work for almost seven years. In the end, however, the relationship was poisoned. Kings play-by-play man Grant Napear after the trade described Cousins’ presence as a “dark cloud over the franchise.” Cousins recently told ESPN’s Marc Spears that his “biggest regret is not leaving when I had the chance.”

This gets at the duality of Boogie’s time in Sacramento. On one hand, his relationship with the front office could be considered — at best — fractured and cynical. On the other hand, he loved the city and the fans. He was loyal to them. His service to the community is stuff of legend. (Over the summer he won the NBA’s community service award in part because of his work in the city, as well as in New Orleans, Alabama and South Africa.)

“He was very emotional when he left here. I was there when he got on the plane,” Gentry said. “I think people don’t realize that sometimes they look at these guys as something other than a 22, 25, 27-year-old kid and that’s what they are. I don’t care how big they are or what it is. They got the same emotions as everyone else has. It’s tough, because it wasn’t his decision to leave. I think when that happens, it stings, it hurts.”

In the nine months since the Kings traded Cousins, it’s unclear who won the divorce. Entering the game, the Pelicans had a 12-17 record since acquiring Cousins, and the Kings were 8-20. A four-game difference hardly seems worth all the hoopla.

New Orleans is still trying to figure out how to deploy the front court combination of Cousins and Davis. In the almost-400 minutes that Cousins and Davis shared the floor last season, the Pelicans had a net rating of 2.8 points per 100 possessions, an improvement from a minus-1.6 net rating on the season. That can happen because of shear talent, but the fit still seems awkward when the two 7-footers share the floor.

The Kings, meanwhile, have since interspersed the team with veterans Zach Randolph, Vince Carter and George Hill, who will show young players like Buddy Hield, Skal Labissiere and De’Aaron Fox the ropes. The fifth pick in the draft Fox, in particular, looks like he could be poised for stardom.

After the game, Cousins took a moment to talk to Fox. “He told me he’s watching me — really a Kentucky thing — we talked before I was even drafted so we pretty much know each other,” Fox said.

Did that mean a lot to Fox?

“Definitely, definitely. Especially for what he did for the city [of Sacramento] and what he’s doing right now in New Orleans.”

The trade will be judged and talked about for years, but it seems both Cousins and the Kings are better off because of it. By the end, neither party was happy with the other, and now both seem relieved that it’s over.

When the media scrum had gotten what it needed, some of Sacramento’s veteran reporters pocketed their recorders and stuck around to talk with Cousins. Like old times. Several players have passed through the Kings organization over the years, but the ghost of Boogie still lingers those cement halls.

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Cousins’ contract will expire after the season, and for the first time in his career, he’ll get to decide where he wants to play. No matter where he goes, like he always has — from Mobile to New Orleans — he will make his presence felt.