[Woj] George Karl actively pushing to trade Cousins.

[Endless Paradise]

Welp. Color me shocked. I'm not being facetious, either, I just did not see this coming so soon into his new contract.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--george-karl-pushing-for-kings-to-trade-demarcus-cousins-051748948.html

[PhoSita]

Not that shocking.  Karl wants to make his own stamp on the team, and the easiest way to do that is to move the only guy who is currently higher on the priority list than he is.

I'm sure he'd prefer to trade for Lawson, Faried, and the #7, or something like that, rather than start over again with the #2 pick and change.

[Rondo9]

So who are the Kings going to listen Cousins or Karl?

It's gotta be Cousins right?

[Bucketgetter]

I was excited about this, but didn't let my hopes get up. We just can't offer as much as the Lakers or the Nuggets. Plus Vlade Divac used to be a laker, so you know he'll be willing to give them a steal. It will probably be something like Randle, Young, and #27 pick. This is going to be Pau Gasol all over again.

[Endless Paradise]

Construct a roster that simply, at the moment, cannot compete with the playoff teams in the West.
Fire your relatively successful head coach who'd managed to garner your star's trust.
Promote your assistant head coach and publicly proclaim that he will remain the coach for the rest of the season.
Replace said head coach with a win-now, aging retread -- who's expected to win now with a bad team.
Start pushing out your star player, but likely for mediocre veterans whom, again, cannot compete with the playoff teams in the West.

The Kings -- even Maloof-less, they're doofuses.

[Rondo9]

I was excited about this, but didn't let my hopes get up. We just can't offer as much as the Lakers or the Nuggets. Plus Vlade Divac used to be a laker, so you know he'll be willing to give them a steal. It will probably be something like Randle, Young, and #27 pick. This is going to be Pau Gasol all over again.

Vlade will be fired if he made that trade.

[Ogaju]

I was excited about this, but didn't let my hopes get up. We just can't offer as much as the Lakers or the Nuggets. Plus Vlade Divac used to be a laker, so you know he'll be willing to give them a steal. It will probably be something like Randle, Young, and #27 pick. This is going to be Pau Gasol all over again.

Are you kidding? Arguably the best young center in the league traded for scrubs to a team that has the #2 pick in the draft. There is no way the Kings trade Cousins to the Lakers without getting the Lakers #2, right?

[Quetzalcoatl]

Construct a roster that simply, at the moment, cannot compete with the playoff teams in the West.
Fire your relatively successful head coach who'd managed to garner your star's trust.
Promote your assistant head coach and publicly proclaim that he will remain the coach for the rest of the season.
Replace said head coach with a win-now, aging retread -- who's expected to win now with a bad team.
Start pushing out your star player, but likely for mediocre veterans whom, again, cannot compete with the playoff teams in the West.

The Kings -- even Maloof-less, they're doofuses.

So what your saying is we should trade for their future picks?

[Endless Paradise]

Supposedly, they're not even interested in the Lakers pick -- they'd prefer proven veterans. Basically, this gives some credence to those Nuggets/Kings rumors we'd heard about in the past week. Karl might have a vested interest in creating an offbrand version of his 2012-13 Nuggets squad.

[Endless Paradise]

Now that I think about this... with the earlier report today about Cousins' agents privately pushing for a trade, I think they've decided to bring out the big guns. The report is framed in a way that makes Cousins seem sympathetic, while Karl and the Kings' front office are viewed as the aggressors/antagonists.

Boogie must really want out of there. Wow. Talk about a power play.

[LarBrd33]

I think Sacramento and Charlotte are the two most dysfunctional teams in the NBA.  Neither team has any clue what they are doing.

[Rida]

I was excited about this, but didn't let my hopes get up. We just can't offer as much as the Lakers or the Nuggets. Plus Vlade Divac used to be a laker, so you know he'll be willing to give them a steal. It will probably be something like Randle, Young, and #27 pick. This is going to be Pau Gasol all over again.

What? Lakers are better placed than the Celtics to make a play for Cousins?

Randle coming off a major knee injury isn't really coup for them.

We have a combination of Bradley, Sullinger, Young, Olynk and multiple first rounders and trade exemptions which would allow them to go after free agents this summer.

I think that this Lakers story is a smoke screen to drum up interest in Cousins.

Also why would the Kings trade to not just a conference rival but a division rival?

[Rida]

Here is the trade that could get it done

Sullinger
Bradley
Young
Olynk
Wallace (expiring)
Brooklyn 2016 pick

for

Cousins
Landry (two year deal and a bad contract)
6th pick 2015 draft

Works on trade checker

We could even offer exemptions rather than players and add/remove draft picks. But a deal like that could trump any lakers offer

[LooseCannon]

We have a combination of Bradley, Sullinger, Young, Olynk and multiple first rounders and trade exemptions which would allow them to go after free agents this summer.

For people who believe that All-Star potential is important, #2 plus Randle has more All-Star potential than that package.  It's why the Celtics couldn't outbid the Cavs for Kevin Love.

[Endless Paradise]

Here is the trade that could get it done

Sullinger
Bradley
Young
Olynk
Wallace (expiring)
Brooklyn 2016 pick

for

Cousins
Landry (two year deal and a bad contract)
6th pick 2015 draft

Works on trade checker

We could even offer exemptions rather than players and add/remove draft picks. But a deal like that could trump any lakers offer

I think a Lakers offer of 2 for Cousins alone trumps that deal since the Kings wouldn't have to trade their pick and could then try to use those two lottery picks to trade for star veteran players.