Should The Los Angeles Lakers Pay A King’s Ransom For DeMarcus Cousins?

In case you missed it, the Los Angeles Lakers have been linked to yet another star player who may or may not want to leave their current team. This time, it is DeMarcus Cousins, the Sacramento Kings’ franchise center.

Investing heavy attention into every piece of chatter regarding the Lakers is a losing battle. Leaks are almost always agenda-driven, and the threat of bolting to the Lakers provides fantastic leverage for anyone trying to get what they want. But this one is a bit different; there is enough smoke here to be some fire.

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ESPN.com’s Marc Stein reported that the Lakers were actively trying to acquire Cousins from the Kings, despite resistance from some in the Kings front office:

"Sources say that the Lakers, Kings and Orlando Magic have had exploratory dialogue on a three-way Cousins trade that would land the 24-year-old in Los Angeles. All three teams hold top-six picks in Thursday’s NBA draft, and Orlando has a young, top-flight center of its own in Nikola Vucevic, who could theoretically fill the Cousins void.Yet since assuming control of the Kings’ front office in April, Divac repeatedly has downplayed the idea of parting with Cousins, who has three seasons left on an extension he signed during the summer of 2013."

Stein wasn’t the only one to acknowledge that the Kings have discussed trading Cousins. The great Adrian Wojnarowski dropped one of his first #WojBombs of the young offseason, reporting that George Karl is pushing ownership to jettison the enigmatic big man.

And, naturally, this all came to light a day after Kings owner Vivek Ranadive told USA Today’s Sam Amick, that there was no interest in a trade involving Cousins:

“We have zero interest in moving Cousins, so I don’t know where that’s coming from,” Ranadive said when asked about an ESPN.com report in which a Kings-Los Angeles Lakers-Orlando Magic trade scenario was discussed.

So, what can we logically assume from a story with this many twists and turns? Two things stand out to me.

First, there’s quite obviously a fractured relationship between DeMarcus Cousins and coach George Karl. Does that mean that Cousins wants out? Not necessarily. And it certainly sounds like some in the organization — mainly the owner and Vlade Divac — want the star center to stick around, so I wouldn’t bank on a trade happening quite yet.

But, if it gets to the point where “Boogie” decides he wants out, this situation could get very interesting.

Second, if there is any possibility that Cousins is available — no matter how small the chance — the Los Angeles Lakers will be one of the teams calling. It’s the nature of the way they operate, not only doing their due diligence, but making sure they throw their hat in the ring with an offer for any star player that may be on the move.

The problem, as always it seems, is how the Lakers could afford to barter for a player of DeMarcus Cousins’ caliber.

Let’s imagine for a second that the Kings decide they are ready to sell on their best player. Pretend further that their franchise has no qualms about trading a star talent to the Los Angeles Lakers, an in-state rival, who are finally down after so many years of being on top. Under that highly optimistic scenario, what would the Lakers have to give up?

Kurt Helin of Pro Basketball Talk suggested that it would take some combination of the second overall pick, Jordan Clarkson, and Julius Randle. The Lakers would target a package of Cousins and the sixth overall selection in Thursday’s draft.

It seems unlikely that the Kings would trade the sixth overall pick with a 24-year-old All-Star center to move up four slots and acquire a second-year player coming off of a broken leg — even if that player is as talented as Julius Randle. The Kings would likely require the second pick in the draft and Randle for Cousins alone.

That would be a similar package to what the Minnesota Timberwolves got for Kevin Love last season.

Personally, I would rather roll the dice on the second overall pick (likely Jahlil Okafor) and see how Julius Randle develops. Adding in Jordan Clarkson to that deal would completely kill it for me.

If the Lakers were built to win right now, you could sell trading the future for a better present. But they aren’t, and trading all of their assets for a more established one isn’t going to fix that. Their ability to build a team around Cousins after any potential acquisition would be hindered, even if they used the rest of their cap room to pick up a few free agents that help the cause.

Instead of paying Sacramento a king’s ransom for DeMarcus Cousins, the better idea is to continue to build around the core the Lakers are putting together. Three young players on rookie deals, plus cap space the next two seasons could make for a loaded squad in the near future.

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