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This is how fast things work in the NBA. On Friday, the question of whether DeMarcus Cousins would be traded was a dead issue. He’d already said he planned to sign the $200 million extension the Kings are eligible to offer him next season under the new CBA. He’s on record with that. The whole conversation about a trade seemed moot. 

Instead, on Sunday, just hours before the All-Star Game, Adrian Wojnarowski shared the following: 

So basically, “here we go again.” 

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Could DeMarcus Cousins actually be traded?  USATSI

And, predictably, the Kings came with their denials and refutations in short order: 

This is a completely predictable response from the Kings. You assure the client they won’t be traded. And it’s entirely possible, as I mention below, that this was a “kick the tires” situation, and the Kings really don’t intend to trade Cousins. Honestly, there’s just no way to know due to the historically unstable nature of the Kings. 

Some thoughts: 

  1. This could be simple tire-kicking before the deadline. Sometimes what happens is teams open up talks for the star to see what the value is, and who’s available, and then use that information to transfer it into a deal that doesn’t involve Cousins. NBA front offices also typically operate under a simple philosophy that it never hurts to talk about a deal even if you’re unlikely to make it. So this could be nothing. Certainly, all indications were from both sides that they had no intention of pursuing a deal within the past few weeks. 
  2. The phrase “engaging in trade talks,” is notably careful. Notice how it doesn’t say “Sacramento has made Cousins available in talks?” That means they can take the position that teams called to try and trade for Cousins, and the Kings simply picked up the phone. That’s way different from “actively shopping him.” They maintain leverage in this situation. 
  3. Trying to parse out what’s going on in Sacramento “internally” is difficult, and every time a report comes out about who stands where, on anything, a conflicting report arises hours later. There has been talk around the league that owner Vivek Ranadive is unsure about the prospects of keeping Cousins long-term, but don’t be surprised if Ranadive comes out with some sort of public gesture of support and commitment to Cousins in the next 24 hours, because, well, again, this is just how the Kings operate. There are a lot of minority-position owners for the Kings -- all of them seem to have strong opinions, and all of them seem to enjoy talking to the media on background. As always, the truth is a moving target in Sacramento. 
  4. OK, let’s talk Pelicans here. Obviously, this would shake the NBA to its core. It would combine the best overall center in the NBA with maybe the best overall power forward in the game. They’re both Kentucky guys so they’re buddies, and it would give the Pelicans a dual-max-superstar combo to build around for years. If the Kings will do a deal, any deal, that does not require sending back Davis, the Pelicans should 100 percent do it. 
  5. Now, the issue is obviously what the Pelicans send. They have a better package than you might think, but still not great. For starters, they can send Jrue Holiday, but he’s on an expiring contract so the Kings would have to re-sign the best player they get back. The Pelicans can send Tyeke Evans, also expiring, back to Sacramento, and that clears cap space. They can send Buddy Hield, a promising young prospect. They can trade multiple first-round picks and not have to worry about it because with those two, you’re likely never going to have a season where you finish in the lottery for the duration of their run. You can throw in E’Twuan Moore or Langston Galloway to sweeten the deal, but it’s not much. You can get all of that, and that’s a pretty good haul for Cousins, just not what his actual market value is. But if Denver and Boston are uninterested based on Cousins’ history of behavior, it’s not a categorically bad haul. You still wind up looking bad, but any scenario where you trade Cousins, that’s the case. 
  6. This might also very well be a tactical ploy by the Kings to generate a market for Cousins. You start with “Buddy Hield and picks,” and then generate a market and see if you can get someone to bite on a mega-deal. The odds of the Pelicans actually pulling this off are slim. But man, what a move it would be. 
  7. In a cruel twist, Cousins was asked about how nice it is to just talk basketball instead of trade talks or controversy at All-Star availability on Friday. That was 48 hours ago. This is up there for “most Kings thing, ever.” 

Don’t be surprised if the Kings come out with a series of counter-leaks about how they are committed to Cousins and want him to retire as a King. It doesn’t matter if that’s true (it could be) or not. It just behooves them to say it no matter what. These leaks are pretty clearly coming from the Pelicans side, and the Kings do not benefit from them being out there. 

We’ll see where we go from here, but if this is the start of NBA trade deadline week, it’s a fascinating one. We’ll keep you updated.