All hell has broken loose in Sacramento over the last few days, when reports that DeMarcus Cousins would be traded at the behest of George Karl ran wild, and teams like the Lakers were supposedly firmly in the mix to acquire the disgruntled and difficult All-Star center.
The Kings have denied that Cousins was ever available, even after reports surfaced that a framework of a deal with Los Angeles had indeed been put into place. Karl reportedly shopped Cousins on his own, which left ownership in Sacramento pondering whether or not he was the right choice as head coach, and if it might be better to simply cut the team’s losses by cutting him loose, and starting from scratch by going in a different direction.
As of this moment, the plan in Sacramento appears to be to keep everyone in place. And newly-installed decision-maker Vlade Divac wants to make it clear that no matter what types of reports leak, and regardless of the amount of pressure that is exerted, he will remain steadfast in doing what he believes is best for the overall health of the franchise.
From Sam Amick of USA Today:“I just was tired last week, or days, of these rumors, and putting a lot of stuff on our back, making this even harder than it is,” Divac said in an interview with Sacramento radio station KHTK 1140 Friday morning. “I try to be who I am, and try to do my job best I can and try to do the best I can for the franchise. I’m not going to let somebody change my mind because they’re putting (threats in) the paper or putting the pressure on me. I’ll do the best I can to improve this team.”
For all the understandable comparisons between Cousins’ situation and that of superstars like Carmelo Anthony (Melo-Drama in Denver) or Dwight Howard (Dwight-mare in Orlando), there’s one common thread that has been largely ignored by the masses: Cousins’ agent, Dan Fegan of Relativity Sports, who has long since become the industry leader in applying the kind of pressure to a team that he hopes leads to a trade of his choosing.
He represented Howard during those Orlando days, when all the endless twists and turns leading up to his Aug. 2012 trade to the Los Angeles Lakers did the kind of damage to Howard’s reputation that has never been truly repaired. He was behind the scenes in the Denver situation back in 2011, too, working unofficially with then-Nuggets adviser and close friend Bret Bearup to get Anthony to the Brooklyn Nets before then-general manager Masai Ujiri ultimately opted for a trade with the New York Knicks.
This is somewhat of a crazy story -- not because an agent is being openly tied to the rumors that leaked with the intention of forcing a team to trade one of his clients to a more desirable destination, but because the details of those discussions are rarely made as public as they are in this account of how the events transpired.
It’s unclear whether or not Karl and Cousins can successfully (and peacefully) co-exist next season given the way this has all played out. But Sacramento seems to prefer to keep them both in place if at all possible, and Divac is determined not to let outside influences interfere with his plans of reshaping the Kings into a winning franchise.