When it comes to the off season in the NBA, you can be sure that there will be rumors flying left and right that concern the possible movement of players to different teams. Of course, some of them are pretty ridiculous to think of when you take into consideration the salary cap imposed by the NBA, but others are within the realm of reason. An NBA analyst has reason to believe that the Sacramento Kings ought to put center power forward DeMarcus Cousins on the trading block before the deadline kicks in. After all, the Sacramento Kings are expected to extend their playoff drought, and Boogie’s departure in the 2018 NBA free agency is all but a done deal.
DeMarcus Cousins has long been a name that was mentioned throughout the many trade rumors which surfaced in recent months. Such rumors began to gain momentum in the 2016 NBA draft, as the Sacramento Kings decided to pick Georgios Papagiannis and Skal Labissiere. These two happen to play in the same position as that of Boogie. Not only that, the Kings went through some pretty serious backcourt problems when Rajon Rondo decided to leave on a free agency and pledged his allegiance with the Chicago Bulls instead.
Darren Collison, who is the projected starting point guard for the Kings in the upcoming season, has to go through another 8 games of suspension after pleading guilty for a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery recently. This has certainly jeopardized his position on the team, where whispers abound that the Kings would not mind trading him and Rudy Gay to the Miami Heat, with Goran Dragic heading in the opposite direction.
Seeing Dwyane Wade depart and Chris Bosh remaining on the sidelines because of blood clot issues, it would not be too smart of a move to trade Dragic for a couple of players whose contracts are close to be expired. With DeMarcus Cousins not getting the kind of quality service that he is perhaps used to on the national team, there is a very real pull factor to leave this team for what many would term as greener pastures. It is human nature for that to happen, so we should just brace ourselves for a gap in the King’s forward line in the coming season if the rumors circulating prove to be true.
Other NBA teams that have shown interest in DeMarcus Cousins include the likes of the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers. Should Cousins be traded, then it would be wise for the Kings to put in request for two future first-round picks at the very minimum, since youth is worth an asset investing in as part of the rebuilding process. A franchise player trade is never easy for any NBA team, but when push comes to a shove, it might make more financial sense to trade a player now and gain potential through first-round picks, as opposed to losing DeMarcus Cousins in the 2018 NBA free agency for essentially nothing.
