NBA Trade Rumors: 6 DeMarcus Cousins Trades
Boston Celtics
If there’s a young coach that’s going to deal with Cousins, it’s Brad Stevens. He is strictly business as a NBA coach and has excelled through his short time with the Boston Celtics. After a successful six-year career coaching the Butler Bulldogs, Stevens made the jump to the NBA.
He began his career with a 25-57 record, but made the playoffs with a 40-42 record last season and is on pace to make the playoffs again this season.
Acquiring Cousins would benefit the Celtics in several ways. They’d have a more consistent player in the post and a great rebounding tandem with Jared Sullinger. Sullinger would be able to have better matchups at power forward with his 6-foot-9 frame. With these two as the foundation, the Celtics would contend for one of the best frontcourts in the NBA.
The Kings, on the other hand, would be adding versatility and depth to their frontcourt. Amir Johnson and Kelly Olynyk would provide a strong rebounding and scoring presence. It also gives the Kings a true starting power forward, since that is where they have used Cousins. Pairing the two with rookie Willie Cauley-Stein and Kosta Koufos makes for a frontcourt with great depth.
Adding Marcus Smart in the backcourt would give the Kings a point guard that they can develop with Rajon Rondo‘s contract expiring this summer and Darren Collison‘s expiring the year after. Smart was the sixth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, but he’s had his struggles.
His shooting numbers have declined from his rookie season, but he has shown the potential to be a good two-way player by averaging 1.7 steals per game.
Having the Nets’ picks in 2016 and 2017 almost guarantees that the Kings will have prime draft selection in the next two NBA drafts. Perhaps drafting a power forward, such as Dragan Bender, or a small forward, such as Ben Simmons or Brandon Ingram, gives the Kings even more flexibility with their roster to target the opposite position in free agency.
If the Kings have a better record than the Nets in 2017, they will likely utilize the pick swap condition that goes with the draft pick.
The Kings would get more depth in the short term and great potential long term. The Celtics would benefit from having one of the league’s premier post players and rebounders for years to come, and could certainly create mismatches in the front court.
John Hollinger’s NBA Trade Machine projects that the Celtics would improve by three wins and the Kings would decline by four wins.
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