NBA All-Star Weekend is always a bit of letdown. It rarely lives up to the hype, given that it’s ultimately a glorified pick-up game with little-to-no stakes that features 48 minutes of virtually uncontested highlights. But just as it was limping along to the finish line on Sunday night, news broke about a blockbuster trade that sent Kings’ All-Star DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for rookie Buddy Heild and other assets.
Throughout the evening, their were widespread rumors that Sacramento was engaging in talks with multiple teams, some of it true and some of it, of course, apocryphal. At first, most of the NBA watching world was stunned that the Kings got so little in return for their franchise superstar (it was so lopsided even an NBA 2K simulation refused to allow the transaction).
But various reports over the past few months have claimed that GMs around the league have grown increasingly wary of Cousins because of his attitude and volatile nature. Count Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics among those ranks, to the point that the organization never even bothered to reach out to the Kings about potentially acquiring Cousins, according to an anonymous source. Via Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe:
“It’s not just that he can be emotional on the court,” the source said. “It’s just playing with him every day. Like, when a coach says he can’t coach him, you lose credibility. You can’t sustain things that are important to winning if a coach isn’t able to hold him accountable.”
The source emphasized that Cousins was generally viewed as a good person off the court by those around him.
“But it’s his on-court demeanor, his play, his effort, that type of stuff,” the source said. “It’s just really hard when you can’t find one basketball person [to vouch for him].”
Despite his immeasurable talent, it’s clear that many teams around the league had become hesitant to pull the trigger on a trade for Cousins, as evidenced by the fact that the Kings’ front office was obviously willing to part with him for very little value in return.
Still, many experts also believe that Cousins simply needs a change of scenery from the perpetually unstable circumstances in Sacramento. That’s precisely what he’s getting in the move to New Orleans, where he’ll be paired up with a fellow superstar in Anthony Davis. What happens from here will define the narrative of his career one way or another.
