Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
The Sacramento Kings are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the NBA offseason. As if was not even possible, the embarrassment looks to be taking an interesting turn.
The current debacle has head coach George Karl wanting to trade away Kings franchise player and All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins. As of yesterday, ownership has no intention of dealing Cousins, which they made clear by sending a statement directly to USA Today.
“We have zero interest in moving Cousins, so I don’t know where that’s coming from,” Kings owner Vivek Ranadive told USA Today. “But if you like, you should talk to (Kings vice president of basketball and franchise operations) Vlade (Divac), because I know Vlade feels exactly the same way. And I’m deferring to Vlade on everything. We have no interest in moving him. From my perspective, it’s really simple: we feel that he’s a one-of-a-kind player, and we have a group of players right now and we’re going to build on it.”
The glaring issue now facing Sacramento is the reality of everyone’s hand being shown to the public eye. We are all aware of the mismanagement going on within the Kings organization. Plus, there is no way the team can move forward with Cousins and Karl working together.
To make matters that much more hilarious, the Kings have decided they want to pursue center JaVale McGee in free agency. Of course, if the report by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports is correct, that means Ranadive is going back on his previous statement and Sacramento actually is interested in trading Cousins.
For those who may be unaware, McGee spent time with Karl when both men were with the Denver Nuggets. The following is what Karl had to say about McGee in an interview with the Denver Post in January 2013:
“He’s got to understand that lazy and crazy isn’t going to make it work. We want solid and we want fundamental, and we want spectacular but only when it happens, not forcing the action where sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t.”
So, Karl wants to get rid of Cousins, who has proven to be a far greater talent than anyone who has walked through Sacramento in the past decade, for someone who he essentially could not stand coaching. Clearly, hiring Karl to lead the team going forward was a brilliant decision.
The truth is the Kings are a mess of an organization. Despite Cousins stating he does not want to leave Sacramento, it is in his best interest to jump ship the first chance he gets. That means telling the organization to trade him or he will not play. Karl has wanted to sabotage Cousins’ career since the Kings hired him, which makes absolutely no sense.
It is a bad situation that will only get worse throughout the summer. And, signing McGee in free agency will only add to the current disaster.
Michael Terrill is a Senior Writer for Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MichaelTerrill, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.
