NBA Trade Rumors: 6 DeMarcus Cousins Trades

If the Sacramento Kings want to follow the buy-low, sell-high model, then now is the time to trade DeMarcus Cousins. There would be a long list of teams interested; here are six practical deals that could go down.

When farmers or other people are growing their crops, particularly fruit, they wait for their crops to be ripe before harvesting or picking them. When their fruit is ripe they simply pick it and take it to the farmers’ market or sell it to a company. That’s exactly what the Sacramento Kings should do with DeMarcus Cousins.

Cousins isn’t breaking any records, but he is playing the best basketball of his NBA career. Prior to Tuesday night’s debacle against the Portland Trail Blazers in which he shot 4-for-21, Cousins had recorded 11 straight double-doubles.

He also joined a list of legends with a two-game performance of 104 points and 25 rebounds. He become the fourth player since the ABA-NBA merger to have at least 100 points and 25 rebounds in a two-game stretch. That’s something that only Michael Jordan, David Robinson and Antwan Jamison could do.

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Cousins’ 56-points performance on Monday is the most by a NBA center since Shaquille O’Neal scored 61 points in 2000, according to NBA Stats. Cousins only needed nine more points on Tuesday to join Kings’ greats Nate Archibald and Oscar Robertson as the only players to score 130 points in a three-game span, according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Why trade Cousins now when the Kings are tied for eighth place in a Western Conference that could have five teams battling for the playoffs? It’s simple, really. The Kings already have one of the better chances of making the playoffs. Only the Utah Jazz are ahead of them in ESPN’s BPI Playoff Projections, according to ESPN.com.

The Kings have a 31.9 percent chance of making the playoffs, which is well behind the Jazz 53.3 percent. However, after the Kings it drops to 21.3 percent for the next closest team.

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Cousins, 25, has had his problems on and off the court this season. He reportedly cursed out head coach George Karl in November, according to thebiglead‘s Jason McIntyre. This is one example of their many conflicts that arose early in the season. However, Cousins has shown signs of maturing since he isn’t in the news talking about Karl, as NBA.com‘s Shaun Powell writes.

Cousins is hot-headed and often lets his emotions play out in the heat of the moment. O.J. Mayo claimed that Cousins has “mental issues” following an incident in 2012, according to CBS Sports‘ Zach Harper. Cousins was named as one of Bleacher Report’s 10 Most Immature Players in 2012.

NBA referees have had problems with Cousins as well. Cousins has been given 83 technical fouls through his first five-and-a-half seasons. He has 10 through the Kings first 45 games and is on pace to break his career-high of 17 technical fouls. He has been ejected from 10 career games, though only one in each of his past three seasons. So maybe Cousins is maturing, after all.

The Kings have an opportunity to not only improve their roster in a Cousins trade, but also improve their future. The list of teams that would be interested in Cousins would probably be a long one, maybe half of the NBA would call-in and check on a deal. Here are six trades that not only help the Kings win this season, but also set them up for the long haul.

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