Cousins Trade Exactly Right Move For Sacramento
- Updated: February 24, 2017
NBA fans and pundits will lament the trade of star center DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans for the remainder of the 2016-17 season. Vice president of basketball operations and general manager Vlade Divac will be hung in effigy throughout the Sacramento area. By the end of April, Kings fans will come around and realize that trading away an overgrown crybaby that couldn’t deliver even a single trip to the postseason was exactly the right thing to do.
Yes, Cousins is an elite center in the NBA. Yes, he averages 27.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game this season. The 6-foot-11 Cousins even led the Kings in assists (4.8 per game) this season. But, the former Kentucky star is the only player in the history of the NBA to play over 400 games for a single franchise, average over 20 points and 10 rebounds a game, and never play a single game in the postseason.
Cousins in no way shape or form makes any of the players around him any better. He leads the NBA in technical fouls and is second in personal fouls per game. Sure, he scores and he can rebound, but why is it that Sacramento has never even finished above .500 since Cousins broke into the league in 2010? Surely, not all the Kings’ problems were Cousins’ fault, but without him, they will be better off.
Buddy Hield, obtained from the Pelicans in the trade, is a gifted shooter who could turn out to be a steal. The Kings are just a game and a half out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. There is the distinct possibility that they get to the postseason for the first time since the 2005-06 season. If they don’t, it means they will be getting another great draft pick. Plus, if the Pelicans (currently 11th in the West) fail to make the playoffs, the Kings will have a second lottery pick. Divac will have the opportunity to build the franchise without a player who produced points and rebounds but not wins.
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