Few would argue the Sacramento Kings received fair compensation for DeMarcus Cousins when the team unexpectedly shipped him to the New Orleans Pelicans after the All-Star Game.
The move seemed rushed, Cousins has said he’s felt betrayed and most have panned the deal, wondering why other teams didn’t get involved if the asking price was so low on the best center in the NBA.
Maybe they never had a chance.
According to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who spoke on The Vertical podcast with Chris Mannix, the Kings rushed a deal through the pipelines before the owner could change his mind, as transcribed by NBC Sports’ Dan Feldman:
They wanted to do this deal before Vivek Ranadive changed his mind again. This talk about this new list of transgressions by Cousins over the last few weeks — the incident with the Golden State fan, the technical fouls now that it turned into suspensions — these were very consistent with what’s gone on. These weren’t new. Now, they used that to say, “Well, we just decided we couldn’t go forward with him.” Management, the front office, they’ve wanted to trade him for a very long time. And they could not get Vivek on board. Once they had Vivek on board, they didn’t want him to change his mind again. A, that was part of the reason they rushed on Sunday to get the deal done.
Not a good look for the organization.
The Kings have been panned for years as one of the most dysfunctional locales in the NBA. Cousins fell into their laps and they never built around him well while also never shutting down trade rumors.
Granted, Cousins had his problems. But with the reasoning behind this sudden deal finally out in the open, it is the final indictment on a chaotic organization ready to fade without one of the league’s best players. Cousins, on the other hand, will get over the backhanded ordeal by teaming with Anthony Davis.
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