Sacramento Kings are contemplating a DeMarcus Cousins trade deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, at least that is what NBA insiders claim. According to reports, new Kings coach George Karl is planning to ship the 24-year old All-Star center. Aside from Los Angeles Lakers, the team reportedly also had talks with other teams like Denver Nuggets.
While LA Lakers fans are buzzed about the prospect of getting the services of DeMarcus Cousins trade, Kings owner is not happy about it. In fact, his relationship with George Karl because of the latter's working relationship, or lack thereof, has been strained. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated said on his Twitter account:
"Relationship between Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and George Karl deeply strained right now, per sources. Some tense moments last few days."
Before Mannix's report, Sacramento Kings executive Vlade Divac insisted DeMarcus Cousins trade with Lakers is not part of their pre-season plan. This statement came out on June 20.
"That is not happening," Divac said forcefully, "but I would love to do something, a smaller move, before the draft. We have a lot of changes to make. The league is much more up-tempo now, and we need more three-point shooting. If we don't get that in the draft, we'll be active in free agency and see about making trades later in the off-season."
Six days after, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports said Vidac is the one pushing the trade. For DeMarcus Cousins trade, Lakers were asked to release their two young promising players along with No. 2 pick.
"Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac has pursued a possible deal that would include a bevvy of assets, including the Lakers' No. 2 pick in Thursday's NBA draft, rookies Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson and other draft assets, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Sacramento also would want to unload the remainder of forward Carl Landry's two years, $13.5 million contract, league sources said."
Update: Los Angeles Lakers drafted D'Angelo Russell as their 2nd overall draft pick.
