Monday’s report from Yahoo that Sacramento Kings coach George Karl wants DeMarcus Cousins traded confirms a long-held suspicion: the Hall of Fame coach is cancerous to the Kings franchise as it currently stands.
Things started poorly with Karl’s midseason hiring at the expense of Mike Malone. Malone was reportedly one of the only coaches the testy Cousins got along with over the course of his career, and he was upset when Malone got fired. Furthermore, Cousins was reportedly annoyed that the Kings hired Karl, as they didn’t consult him at all. For the rest of the season, Cousins and Karl were rumored to have a tenuous but working relationship.
Then, during the offseason, Karl has said some things that just rub me the wrong way. He reportedly told Rudy Gay he’d be playing a lot of power forward next season; in another interview he mentioned how he’d like to feature lineups with multiple point guards on the floor. Now, he apparently wants Cousins gone (the two have reportedly not spoken since April).
It seems clear what Karl wants to do: He wants to run back his fastbreak-happy Denver Nuggets teams. He may want to do this quite literally, trading Cousins for Ty Lawson and other players from those Denver teams. He wants to bring his guys to his team and will do so at anyone’s expense.
If the Kings revere Cousins as they claim to, and should, they’ll can Karl. If indeed Karl and Cousins can’t work together – and Cousins tweeting the emojis for “snakes in the grass” late at night suggests they can’t – they’ll need to evaluate which of the two means more to them. It should without a doubt be Cousins; he’s one of the best centers in the NBA, period. But if for some crazy reason it’s Karl, then they might as well blow this team up. Trade Cousins for whatever Karl wants. Don’t put your franchise star through this misery.
And you know what, trade Gay too, out of respect. If the Kings move Cousins they will have traded for Gay, extended him, fired his coach and then traded his superstar teammate. What kind of team does that? The Kings, I guess.
Now, there is still the possibility that this is a faulty report, one of many such leaks generated around draft day by NBA front offices with ulterior motives. In that case, Karl can stay. But operating under the assumption that this report is true, Karl is out of his mind right now.
Casey Sherman is the Toronto Raptors Beat Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @shermham