NBA Rumors: George Karl Wants Kings To Trade DeMarcus Cousins

USA Today

Once the Sacramento Kings hired George Karl to be the team’s new head coach, the consensus seemed to be that Karl and star center DeMarcus Cousins would never see eye-to-eye. Cousins is as talented as any big man in the game with the potential to be a superstar in the near future, but he’s been difficult to deal with every since the team drafted him out of Kentucky in 2010.

With another disappointing season in the rearview for the Kings, the inevitable is already taking place. It appears that Karl is intent on sending Cousins elsewhere, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports:

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.

It has been rumored that Karl wants to acquire many of his former players currently with the Denver Nuggets. Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried, and Wilson Chandler appear to be in Karl’s crosshairs with Cousins has trade bait.

The Los Angeles Lakers seem to be the team most interested in acquiring Cousins in a trade. The storied NBA franchise appears ready to part ways with the second overall pick in the NBA Draft as well as last year’s lottery pick in forward Julius Randle.

Although intriguing building blocks for the Kings, Sacramento is said to not be interested in what the Lakers are offering in return. A third team like the Nuggets could get involved to make things work in terms of Sacramento getting the desired return.