Maybe Vlade Divac is the strong voice the Sacramento Kings need in their front office after all.
Speaking with the media for the first time since it was widely reported that an unhappy DeMarcus Cousins was on the trade block, the Kings’ chief decision-maker said definitively that his team’s franchise player isn’t going anywhere. Just as important, Divac stressed that he wouldn’t be “pushed around” and that George Karl hasn’t requested Cousins’ ouster despite reports indicating otherwise.
Via Ailebe Voisin of the Sacramento Bee:
“It is not happening,” an irritated Divac told The Bee when asked about the reports earlier today. “We’re looking for ways to improve our team. We need time to work on that, and draft a good player. I don’t care what the agents or the media people are saying.”
Asked specifically if coach George Karl has pushed to trade Cousins, Divac replied, “No. We have talked about how we can improve the team, but not discussed anything specifically with (Cousins) even though teams are calling us. I will not be in a position to be pushed around. I don’t know why we are wasting time talking about something that is not going to happen.”
Before the Cousins situation devolved into all-out mayhem on Monday, Divac said over the weekend that Cousins wouldn’t be traded. Though he certainly has incentive to downplay that possibility to drive up Sacramento’s asking price for the star big man, that Divac has remained steadfast in refuting it lends him further credence – especially as Karl and owner Vivek Ranadivé haven’t been quite so strong.
Obviously, this is a developing situation. Should Divac get his way, though, it appears the Kings will go into 2015-2016 with both Cousins and Karl in the fold. As we wrote earlier today, that approach would be delaying the inevitable; theirs is a relationship that seems fractured beyond repair.
Expect either player or coach to be out of Sacramento soon enough. And if the rumors are true and Divac is playing coy, it’s Cousins that will almost certainly be on the move.
[Via Sacramento Bee]
