5 possible trade destinations for DeMarcus Cousins
The Kings are reportedly willing to trade DeMarcus Cousins. Yes, again.
The immensely talented but equally inscrutable All-Star big man has yet to take the Kings to the playoffs, and according to the Sacramento Bee, his temperament hasn't endeared him to teammates in the Sacramento locker room.
This has led the Kings' braintrust to consider moving Cousins, despite the fact that the team is moving to a new arena next season, and Cousins is the face of a franchise that seems to constantly be in a state of struggle.
It's hard to believe that the Kings would move Cousins, but if this report is to be believed, they wouldn't lack for interest on the trade market.
Where could Cousins land? What would teams have to give up for him? Call them predictions if you must, but here are five possibilities:
Cousins has been tied to the Lakers for the better part of a year, and for good reason. The former Kentucky center is one of the rarest things in the NBA — the thing that all teams need — a superstar. The Lakers, despite back-to-back high draft picks, and a good shot at the No. 1 overall pick this season, do not have a superstar and are unlikely to get one this summer, outside of a move for Cousins.
The Lakers could package D'Angelo Russell — he of Snapchat infamy — and either Julius Randle or their high draft selection this summer, along with Lou Williams (and probably a few future draft picks, the most valuable of which is probably the team's 2020 first round selection) in a move for Cousins.
The Kings would always be selling Cousins at a loss — he wouldn't be on the trade market otherwise — but adding two recent top picks would be a nice haul.
The presence of Cousins would show that the Lakers aren't keen to wait for young players to develop and might give them a better chance in the free agent market come July.
The Heat are a possible destination for Kevin Durant, but it's a longshot (which is a common thread of these teams.) But they also have to find a way to re-sign Hassan Whiteside, despite not having his full Bird rights, and maintain Dwyane Wade, who isn't leaving town but will command serious money.
A solution? A sign-and-trade with Sacramento for Cousins. It'd be a complicated mess of contracts and CBA red-tape, but it can get done, especially if the Heat are willing to part with Justise Winslow.
Cousins is the two-way big man that can make Erik Spoelstra's new four-out lineup pop in ways that Whiteside could never provide. It'd be a bold move, but Pat Riley is known for that sort of thing.
This is the obvious answer. Durant is in play for the Celtics, but given the team's first-round exit, Boston might be a hard sell to a player who is looking to win a championship now. Cousins, however, has no such hangups.
The Celtics have young talent and more-or-less all the draft picks ever created (thanks, Billy King!) to make a deal work.
With an arsenal like that at his disposal, the only question for GM Danny Ainge is whether or not Cousins is the one player that the Celtics have been missing in the team's quest to get back to title contention.
They're going to lose Dwight Howard this summer. It'd be a shock if they didn't. Howard came to hate his time in Houston over the final few months of the season, and James Harden is hardly the leader of the big man's fan club. Perhaps Howard can find a new home with one of these teams that missed out on Cousins.
The Rockets don't have a tremendous amount of assets to send to Sacramento, but they do have their own first-round picks from 2017 on. Maybe Clint Capella, Sam Dekker, and a triple mortgage of the team's future would be enough to land Cousins and give Harden another temperamental big man.
The Bulls are stuck between stations, and instead of blowing it all up, they might be better served by going all-in with the hand that they currently have. Pau Gasol and Joakim Noah are done in Chicago, leaving the Bulls with a glaring deficiency in the front-court.
A package of Taj Gibson (not the biggest fan of Bulls head coach Fred Holberg), Mike Dunleavy, and either Doug McDermott or Tony Snell, along with the requisite sampler platter of first-round draft picks is about the best the Bulls can do to land Cousins, but if the market is weak and the Kings are keen to move on, that would be one impressive 1-2-3 punch in Chicago.
