You are Sacramento's GM, what is the best deal for Cousins?

[More Banners]

I see AB and Smart as redundant since neither is the playmaker I prefer at PG. I would trade one but not both.

JBrown looks like the end of Crowder. Crowder looks like the new James Posey. No? I could live with Jerebko in that role, assuming Brown starts.

If I'm Sac, I agree with Pho: young players that bring an identity would help the franchise, but I still want picks. Multiple. But they could conceivably take Rozier, Smart, AND Crowder, with Jerebko and Zeller.  They could play that lineup. Or take Yabusele/Zizic.

IT, Horford, and Brown would end a conversation. And both AB and Smart, but not either. All picks in play.

[tazzmaniac]

The Kings have a new arena to fill so they won't trade Cousins unless he demands a trade.  Of the teams mentioned besides us, I'd say Denver would be a good possibility.  Cousins liked Coach Malone so that would a big plus.   

I'll throw in the Knicks as a wild card.  What if they offered a deal centered around Porzingis?  He's young, somewhat proven with star potential who would fill the seats.  I think he'd have more value to the Kings than our two Nets picks.  With Cousins, the Knicks would be in a better position to contend now while not hurting their future prospects. 

[jambr380]

BOS trades: Brown, Rozier, Smart, Crowder, rights to Yabu and Zizic, 2017 Boston first, 2018 Brooklyn first, 2019 Clippers first, 2019 Memphis first, 2019 Boston first, 2021 Boston first
BOS receives: Cousins

That is the biggest omg trade of all time. There is no way we give up every possible asset we have for 1 1/2 years of a disgruntled player. We basically get to keep Horford, IT,  Bradley, and KO with absolutely nothing to help us build in the future.

We would be a considerably worse team now and in the future if we made this trade. Nobody is worth that package.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

Dark Horses?

Indiana can offer Turner, Teague, Joe Young, and Glen Robinson plus future picks. That's a nice haul for Cousins. Indiana would make noise with Cousins-Young-George-Ellis-Miles in my opinion, if they gel.

Raptors can offer Valancunas, Ross, Caboclo, Noguira, Poetl, and future picks. Again, that is a nice haul. The Raptors with Cousins-Carroll-Derozan-Lowry-Joseph would be contenders.

OKC could offer Kanter, Abrines, Sabonis, and Payne. Again, that is a nice offer. OKC with Cousin-Adams-Westbrook-Oladipo-Roberson would make noise.

I don't think the Indiana offer would be enough for me, if I'm the Kings' GM.  Teague is a free agent after this year, right?

The OKC offer is kind of interesting, though it doesn't help with the proliferation of centers.  Same problem with the Raptors offer.  I'm going nowhere with Ty Lawson and Darren Collison manning the point guard spot.

There is really a problem league wide in the trade market with so many of these middling teams that would like to make a trade having too many centers.  It's kind of odd, considering how stacked the point guard position seemed to be not that long ago.

I know what you mean. I'm pretty high on Turner. He is the gem of that trade. Getting a starting guard (you could have Young or Ellis there too) and some young prospects are pretty big too.

With how many injuries happen and how fast teams are playing, I don't think you can have too many bigs, especially because Cousins would rather play PF and let another center take the pounding.

[TA9]

The best deal is what Vivek Ranadive likes.
I'm trying to keep my job here

[sofutomygaha]

The first call I would make would be to Milwaukee. I would offer them Cousins and Gay for Jabari, Middleton, and Greg Monroe.

I'd also call up LA to offer them Cousins for Randle, Ingram, and Nick Young.

Finally, I would offer Cousins and Collison to Boston for Smart, Brown, Rozier and a first rounder.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

The first call I would make would be to Milwaukee. I would offer them Cousins and Gay for Jabari, Middleton, and Greg Monroe.

I'd also call up LA to offer them Cousins for Randle, Ingram, and Nick Young.

Finally, I would offer Cousins and Collison to Boston for Smart, Brown, Rozier and a first rounder.

I don't get how people value the Lakers' assets. The Bucks and Celtics both give way more than the Lakers, especially considering that the Lakers have been trying to get rid of Young.

Is Randle a starter in the NBA? I mean, he is a good player, but I'm still not convinced he can finish well enough against NBA bigs to be a starter.

Ingram is a good piece, but I'm a lot lower on him than other people. My ceiling for him is Nic Batum, which is a really good non-allstar.

So then, a ball-hog that no one wants, an inefficient power forward, and a prospect whose ceiling is a good starter, for the best center in the NBA?

We are giving them a ton more than that.

[PhoSita]

The first call I would make would be to Milwaukee. I would offer them Cousins and Gay for Jabari, Middleton, and Greg Monroe.

That is an intriguing one, but I think if I'm Sac I want to complete a trade getting rid of Koufos and Gay and bringing back some help at point guard before I consider that.

[jpotter33]

As someone else said, with as dysfunctional as that organization is, who knows if they'll make rational choices to begin with.

But assuming rational choices, I'd say something like this.

I'd be looking to start completely over. The new arena and trading Cousins would give me a brand new start, and I'd be looking to build the team from the ground up. Also, with the best coach that they've had for a long while, I'd be looking to build the team around his philosophy - tough, versatile defenders and a fast, push-the-ball offense.

I think Boston is clearly one of the better trading options in this regard, because A) we have the Brooklyn picks, B) we have the young players with potential to trade, C) we're in the East, and D) we're a near-contender that Cousins would give a handshake agreement to resign in, which will obviously be a prerequisite of a trade.

Also, already having a solid grounding in the big positions with WCS, Papa, and Lab, I'd be looking for wings, swings, and guards. Thus, I'd be asking for this to start off:
Brown
Smart
Rozier
The 2 Brooklyn picks

Of course, Danny is not going to give me that, so I'd ultimately settle for something like:
Brown, Rozier, Amir, Young, the 2017 Brooklyn pick, and the Memphis pick.

You'd also then sell off Gay and Koufos to the highest bidders.

This would give me a really nice core of Rozier, Young, Brown, Lab, Papa, and WCS and the making of a top-notch defense. And even with Philly being able to switch picks with Sacramento this year, I'd still have two likely top-5 picks this year with the 2017 Brooklyn pick and our own/Philly's pick.

I'd then play the "Philly card" and sell my fanbase on the future with the top picks and trade acquisitions.

[Moranis]

I think Philly can put together the best deal in part because Philly owns a future Sacramento pick and the right to swap in 2017.  So the Kings could get back those picks and add the Lakers pick and a Philly pick or two and still get a nice young player.

I mean even with both Brooklyn picks, I'm not sure Boston could top something like this

Okafor, Saric, Ilyasova, PHI 2017, LA 1st, SAC 1st for Cousins and Gay 

[max215]

I'd definitely talk to Denver. Something like Mudiay, Jokic/Nurkic, and a pick would be interesting.

[alldaboston]

The first call I would make would be to Milwaukee. I would offer them Cousins and Gay for Jabari, Middleton, and Greg Monroe.

I'd also call up LA to offer them Cousins for Randle, Ingram, and Nick Young.

Finally, I would offer Cousins and Collison to Boston for Smart, Brown, Rozier and a first rounder.

I don't get how people value the Lakers' assets. The Bucks and Celtics both give way more than the Lakers, especially considering that the Lakers have been trying to get rid of Young.

Is Randle a starter in the NBA? I mean, he is a good player, but I'm still not convinced he can finish well enough against NBA bigs to be a starter.

Ingram is a good piece, but I'm a lot lower on him than other people. My ceiling for him is Nic Batum, which is a really good non-allstar.

So then, a ball-hog that no one wants, an inefficient power forward, and a prospect whose ceiling is a good starter, for the best center in the NBA?

We are giving them a ton more than that.

Well, you're right. LA would easily take that offer. A deal for boogie to go to LA, first off, starts and ends with D'Angelo Russell. No Russell, no Boogie trade. Then, LA also has to give up Ingram, who, whether you like it or not, has the value of being the no.2 pick. If I'm Sacramento, I'm also asking for Nance, who's criminally underrated if you ask me, and I get to take my pick of either Randle or Clarkson. Maybe I ask for other players LA has, like the young guy Zubac, or another pick or something.

[FreddieJ]

I don't think the OP asked the right question. In this case, it will be more of a buyer's market than it will a seller's market.

1. You almost never get full value when trading a star in their prime
2. You never get full value when trading a star in their prime who wants out
3. You never get full value when trading a star in their prime who has a lot of baggage

I don't see Minny or Sac or LA having a "better" shot at Cousins than we do. You can't name every starter from those teams and then think they have a better chance than if we included IT, Bradley, Crowder, Smart, Rozier, Olynyk, Brown and/or a gaggle of picks. In terms of assets, we have the better ones - we're easily the best team and therefore have the better players PLUS more draft picks than those teams do. Of course, we're not going to strip our team much like Minny/Sac/LA aren't going to strip their teams down to the bare bones either.

If I'm Minny, Cousins isn't attractive in the least. I already have KAT at Center and can't use Cousins. Plus I'm not letting him within 1,000 feet of our locker room. Too many young, impressionable guys.

If I'm Denver, the only way to make this work is to give up Nurkic and/or Jokic. But if I replace those guys with Cousins, I'm still nowhere near ready to win. He doesn't fit in the timeline. I'd rather stick with a core of Mudiay, Murkic and Jokic and get those guys ready to compete when Golden State starts to age.

The Lakers might want to make a splash but their only assets are Randle and Russell. Acquiring Cousins doesn't help that timeline. Again, stick with the youth movement and the picks.

We also have to look at it from Cousins' standpoint. Because no one is going to want to acquire him for a massive bounty and lose him to FA in less than two years, he's going to have to want to stick where he goes. Denver, LA and Minny still put him on losing teams during the prime of his career.

So I'm not sure any of those 3 teams want to make a serious deal for Cousins. I'm not sure Cousins would want to be on any of those 3.

So in a roundabout way, good options for moving Cousins may be fairly limited. If I'm Sac's GM, I know that my roster sucks. There's nothing to build around right now. WCS? Ben McL? Georgios Papagiannis? *shudder* So I'm going for young players and/or draft picks. But the teams with those assets aren't likely to give me top dollar because Cousins isn't a fit with their long term plans.

I've long maintained that the ideal spot for Cousins is in Boston. Coming into a winning environment, backed by some strong veteran personalities all focused on winning, with his friend (IT) already here, with a strong and stable management team (Danny and Brad) - that's how Cousins is going to be the best player he can be. He also fits well here. He can take over the middle while Little Big Al moves out to PF. The Celtics could offer a likely top 3 pick in 2017, another good pick in 2018 and probably a good young player (Smart, Brown?). That's a strong package that allows Sac to go into full rebuilding mode with prime picks in what appear to be good drafts. If the pieces fit the Cs are contending for the NBA Championship with a good 3-4 year window.

Skal and Bogdanovic, who may be as talented as any young players the Celtics possess. No need to be insulting the Kings roster to make your point. Richardson can be good etc

[PhoSita]

But assuming rational choices, I'd say something like this.

I'd be looking to start completely over. The new arena and trading Cousins would give me a brand new start, and I'd be looking to build the team from the ground up.

Starting completely over means re-setting the team's playoff timeline.  The Kings haven't made the playoffs since I was a junior in high school.

The Kings need to build up cache with their fans.  Establish an identity as a respectable franchise.  Starting over with draft picks and very young guys isn't going to accomplish that.  It's more like to result in more of the same.

If they're trading Cousins, I think they need to get pieces in return that can give them a chance at making the playoffs as soon as next year.

[jpotter33]

But assuming rational choices, I'd say something like this.

I'd be looking to start completely over. The new arena and trading Cousins would give me a brand new start, and I'd be looking to build the team from the ground up.

Starting completely over means re-setting the team's playoff timeline.  The Kings haven't made the playoffs since I was a junior in high school.

The Kings need to build up cache with their fans.  Establish an identity as a respectable franchise.  Starting over with draft picks and very young guys isn't going to accomplish that.  It's more like to result in more of the same.

If they're trading Cousins, I think they need to get pieces in return that can give them a chance at making the playoffs as soon as next year.

They're not even close to making the playoffs as it is, and Gay, their second best player, is virtually set to leave if he's not traded. How in the world are they going to get any better and playoff-caliber by trading their best player, who they will assuredly gets less than full value for, and losing their second best player, who they apparently can't get a satisfactory deal for either?

I think they're far better off completely reloading and building the team around Joerger's identity, who is undoubtedly their best coach for a long time. They just have to sell their fans on young prospects and high draft picks like Philly did, especially two top-5 picks this year, though they won't be doing it for nearly as long as Philly, which will limit the fan damage.