The Sacramento Kings have hit critical mass. In a matter of hours, the Kings sprung a hundred leaks like that iceberg punching holes in the Titanic in a dotted line. First the Lakers were pursuing a trade for DeMarcus Cousins. That sounded an awful lot like a leak from Cousins' camp to put pressure on the Kings either to put a better team around Cousins or to move him.

Kings ownership responded by contacting USA Today and saying they have "zero interest" in trading DeMarcus Cousins.

That was posted at 11:34 p.m. ET.

At 1:27 a.m. Yahoo reported that Kings coach George Karl -- who was hired by Pete D'Allessandro, who parted ways with the Kings and returned to Denver this month where he worked with Karl before he was fired and who also hired Karl in Sacramento -- wants Cousins out. Oh, and did I mention that Karl was reportedly hired against the objections of Cousins? Or that Denver, after hiring D'Allessandro, promtly hired the coach that D'Allessandro was at least at least partly responsible for firing midseason before installing Karl?

This has reached the point of utter absurdity.

Despite Sacramento Kings management's public insistence that DeMarcus Cousins is unavailable in deals, coach George Karl's intense desire to trade the All-Star center has made it increasingly unlikely this coach-star partnership can peacefully co-exist next season, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Karl has been recruiting Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac and multiple players on the Kings' roster to unite with him in making the case to owner Vivek Ranadive that Cousins needs to be traded, league sources said.View photo.
Since the end of the 2014-15 season, Cousins has become aware of Karl's campaign to move him – including teammates telling Cousins, sources said. All around the Kings and Cousins, there is a growing belief the coach-player relationship is irreparable. Trust is a constant theme with Cousins, and he's been unable to build any with Karl, sources said.
No one in the Sacramento organization – not coaches, nor players, nor support staff – wants to imagine the combustible scenario awaiting Karl and Cousins should the Kings try to reunite them in training camp.

Source: Sources: George Karl pushing for Kings to trade DeMarcus Cousins - Yahoo Sports.

There have been some dysfunctional groups of people in NBA history. The 2011 Pistons literally skipped practice to protest their coach. The Nuggets under Brian Shaw were a flaming disaster. But what has gone on in Sacramento, with a true carousel of people exerting power, like some twisted Wheel of Misfortune that has happened to land on Vlade Divac until Vivek Ranadive decides he wants another change of direction, has simply been stunning.

You have a Hall of Fame coach pushing to trade the first true franchise cornerstone superstar since Chris Webber and an owner who has to openly contact the media to tell them that he doesn't plan to trade that player, while that player's camp pretty plainly is fed up with the entire thing and just wants to go play for the Lakers.

The Sacramento Bee is reporting the entire situation is basicaly untenable, which seems like a pretty natural conclusion. Local media is also reporting that Cousins doesn't want to leave town.

So what do the Kings do? Fire Karl after just giving him a big new contract? Trade Cousins and lose face, not to mention the best player they may have for another five years? Force the two to co-exist, risking a disastrous level of dysfunction? Can they just trade Karl to Denver and Malone to Sacramento and everything can just go back to how it was in 2013 and we start over? (Except for Andre Iguodala being the Finals MVP for the Warriors. That seems like a significant difference.)

You want offseason drama for the NBA? Forget Cleveland. Sacramento is warming up for a performance for the ages.

Something's got to give between George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins. (USATSI)
Something's got to give between George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins (USATSI)