Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins made headlines for all the wrong reasons after he yelled at a reporter and used some pretty strong language while doing so.
The reporter, Andy Furillo of the Sacramento Bee, had included information about Cousins’ brother, who got into trouble at a night club, in an article he wrote about Matt Barnes. Cousins didn’t take kindly to his brother being dragged into the situation and berated Furillo in an aggressive manner (watch here).
Furillo wrote about the incident over the weekend.
“As members of the press drew closer to conduct the normal media scrum, Cousins singled me out and began talking to me in a very unprofessional manner,” Beas wrote. “Instead of pulling me aside, as most professional basketball players would, he tried to verbally intimidate our photo editor, Emmanuel Basulto, and me and then began attacking me on a personal level. Instead of escalating the situation, we exited the locker room.
Cousins has since been reportedly issued a “substantial fine,” and now he has issued a statement in which he apologizes for his actions.
Statement from DeMarcus Cousins: pic.twitter.com/rCk32w7AHy
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) December 20, 2016
It’s good that Cousins is apologizing here, but the fact that the incident happened in the first place remains troubling. It follows a long record of Cousins exploding when things don’t go his way. He got into it with George Karl numerous times during his tenure with the Kings and has been described as a “bully” by the Sacramento Bee, which has been covering him since he entered the NBA.
With trade rumors swirling around the star center the past couple of years, one wonders if the Kings might finally be tired of Cousins’ antics — tired enough to finally move on.