The Sacramento Kings’ decision to trade DeMarcus Cousins was something of a surprise. Perhaps no team was more surprised than the Dallas Mavericks, who were rebuffed right before the actual deal was made.
“Late Sunday night, the Dallas Mavericks engaged in a DeMarcus Cousins trade discussion with the Sacramento Kings, sources tell DallasBasketball.com, but were rebuffed when a Kings representative told Dallas the same thing they were telling Cousins himself: He was not going to be traded,” Mike Fisher of Scout.com reported. “And then came a U-turn that stunned all involved — including Cousins himself.”
If we’re in the mood the Kings some slack, we can maybe say that they had already reached a deal with the New Orleans Pelicans and didn’t want to renege.
Unfortunately, that’s giving this front office the benefit of the doubt that it hasn’t really earned. Especially in light of comments made by general manager Vlade Divac Monday that the Kings actually had a better offer they turned down before finally dumping Cousins for pennies on the dollar (more on that here).
It’s not at all hard to believe that this team could have been dead set on one thing one moment, and then the exact opposite the next. That’s really more telling than anything.
The Kings might have been on their best behavior here. It’s just not hard to believe that they weren’t.