No matter how many assurances, both public and private, DeMarcus Cousins receives that he’s the future of the Sacramento Kings, it appears as if his name just can’t stay out of the rumor mill. As Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck reports, Boogie’s future in Sacramento isn’t as secure as one might think (hat tip to Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk for the transcription)
“Sacramento, I think, wants to hold onto him. Certainly the owner Vivek Ranadive absolutely wants to hold onto DeMarcus Cousins. But I’ve been told if you polled the rest of the organization, the vast majority are in favor of trading DeMarcus Cousins and that would include, though he denies it, coach George Karl.”
Earlier in the summer, we heard rumors that Karl was trying to gain support from others in the organization to trade Cousins. While Karl has stated that he’s going to try to repair his relationship with Boogie, it appears as if he, and others in Sacramento, still aren’t married to Cousins as the core of the franchise.
This isn’t the first time Boogie’s name has come up in trade rumors. By now, he’s basically immune to them, as he tweeted.
Blah blah blah…
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) August 17, 2015
His tweet was then backed up by Kings owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Vlade Divac.
#WeAreFamily https://t.co/7jIEWrEeg8
— Vivek Ranadivé (@Vivek) August 17, 2015
I agree…#family https://t.co/byjyBgnOOC
— Vlade Divac (@bgoodvlade) August 17, 2015
Divac and Ranadive have been on an all-out campaign to dispel any notion that the Kings are even remotely interested in trading Cousins. And it could well be that neither of those two are. Ultimately, that’s all that matters. If the rest of the organization would be fine with Cousins leaving, even if some of them actively want him out of town, their opinion is of little importance. Vivek and Divac are the two final decision makers (at least, for now. We’ve seen how often that can change in Sacramento), and as long as they’re committed to Boogie, the Kings are committed to Boogie.