The echoes of the stunning trade of DeMarcus Cousins from Sacramento to New Orleans on Sunday night — a deal that was made official Monday afternoon — won’t subside for some time, and will last far beyond Thursday’s trade deadline.
The ramifications of the deal are myriad and complicated, and have far-reaching complications not just for the Kings and Pelicans, but for the rest of the NBA in the run-up to the deadline. Let’s break all of that down here in 20 thoughts about this trade, others that could happen, and more:
1. The Kings have, predictably, taken a bath publicly on this one. There is a large and vocal local contingent of fans in Sacramento who are fully on the side of Cousins, and the fact the team’s lone star for the past seven seasons is being sent packing for a middling return — and with general manager Vlade Divac saying they had a better package on the table two days ago to boot — and they are furious at the way this has all gone down. Part of that is Divac taking shots at Cousins on the way out, saying that "character matters" — which was unnecessary.
2. What’s clear, though, is that the Kings’ front office finally got owner Vivek Ranadive on board with trading Cousins, and once it did, decided to get the best offer it could, and pounced. Sources have refuted the idea the Kings think Buddy Hield is going to be an All-Star, and instead point to the team now having three of the top 35 picks in a strong draft, salary-cap relief, a player on a rookie-scale contract and a chance to make a fresh start.
3. The truth is there just wasn’t much of a market for Cousins, despite his value. Teams are scared off both by his histrionics and the fact he can leave as a free agent after the 2018 season. That’s why, for the Pelicans, the fact the deal ends with their picks in 2017 allows them to escape from any potential pitfalls down the road if Cousins leaves.
4. So what is the plan now in Sacramento? To try and get as much as it can for remaining pieces on the roster. With Matt Barnes waived, look for the Kings to attempt to offload players such as Darren Collison, Ben McLemore and Arron Afflalo between now and Thursday, as the Kings will try to get as many assets back as they can for the future. The expectation is also that the Kings will try to use cap space both now and this summer to accumulate more draft assets.
5. As for the Pelicans, the future remains very much in the air. Trying to incorporate Cousins into the lineup in short order is going to be difficult. The potential fit with Anthony Davis is both intriguing and complicated, while it also seems to fly in the face of everything Alvin Gentry wants to do in terms of style and pace of play.
6. Meanwhile, although many have predicted the Pelicans will move into the eighth seed in the West after this trade, doing so will be easier said than done. Only 10 of their final 25 games will come against teams with winning records, but five of those — beginning at home Thursday against Houston — will come in the first eight games. Given that the Pelicans already trail the eighth-place Nuggets by three games in the loss column with 25 to go, a rough start to the home stretch could doom New Orleans before it gets started with this group.
7. Denver, on the other hand, has only one game— at home against Memphis — against a winning team in its first seven, and plays the Cousins-less Kings three times in its next 10 games, giving the Nuggets an opportunity to pad their lead over the Pelicans. To make the playoffs, New Orleans likely will have to sweep its three remaining games against the Nuggets — including two in Denver.
8. If the Pelicans are unable to make the playoffs, it still seems possible that both general manager Dell Demps and coach Alvin Gentry could be let go. And if that happens, it won’t be surprising to see links to big-name coaches such as John Calipari and Jeff Van Gundy, given the fact both Davis and Cousins will be on the roster. Despite the issues that are present here with the franchise, those kinds of talents aren’t available to be coached every day, and there are only 30 of these jobs to begin with. Plus, if Demps and Gentry both go, a big-name coach could get the Tom Thibodeau-Stan Van Gundy deal, with both front office and coaching power.
9. The other big winner here? Jrue Holiday. The Pelicans point guard was already going to be a hot commodity as an unrestricted free agent this summer, with big-market teams like the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks in the market for floor generals. But now Holiday will be able to extract whatever he wants from New Orleans as a free agent, as the Pelicans desperately need to keep him given they’ll have little money to replace him if he leaves.
10. One final note on Cousins: for all of the talk about him being a negative influence on the court and in the locker room in Sacramento — which, make no mistake, is a big reason why the interest in him around the league was tepid — he’s also someone who has gone out of his way to do a lot of good work in the community there without any need for attention or fanfare. A video of Cousins thanking fans in Sacramento went viral Monday, and he broke down trying to explain how he felt about the city and the fans. It was a side of Cousins no one sees very often. It also is further proof that this entire thing is so complicated to process.
11. Cousins departing makes the Kings sellers, which has ramifications for Sacramento, as it tries to drop further into the lottery (more on that in a minute), and for the rest of the league as well. Why? Because teams that have been seeking help — the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers most prominently — have run into a stubborn obstacle over and over again: a lack of teams willing to move pieces on the open market. With so many teams convinced they can make the playoffs still, even for a futile first-round loss as an eighth seed, finding someone willing to part with useful pieces for lesser roles with better teams has been difficult. So adding another seller to the mix should help things significantly in that department.
12. Speaking of Philadelphia, perhaps the 76ers are the biggest winners in this trade — potentially even more than New Orleans. Because of the pick swap Philly has this season with Sacramento because of a disastrous trade the Kings made with them in 2015, the Kings falling apart will only benefit the Sixers. Meanwhile, the Kings still owe Philadelphia an unprotected first-round pick in 2019, which currently seems destined to be near the top of the lottery.
13. With Cousins off the market, is Jimmy Butler the next most likely big-time player to move? There have been rumors around Butler’s status for months, going back to the night of the 2016 NBA Draft, with the Boston Celtics most prominently linked to the all-star swingman. The question is whether the Celtics will finally pony up the 2017 unprotected pick owed to them by the Brooklyn Nets — one that seems guaranteed to be among the top four spots in a loaded draft. People around the league suspect if the pick is included in a trade, Butler will wind up in Boston. It should be noted, however, that Boston has been reportedly on the brink of making several big deals over the years, only for them to all eventually fall through. A similar path could be trod here with Butler.
14. Whether Butler moves on or not, however, there should still be plenty to get the rumor mill going. As mentioned earlier, both the Pacers and Wizards are thought to be willing to move their first-round pick in this year’s draft in order to boost their current rosters. Their willingness, however, is for different reasons. For the Pacers, it’s to try and prove to Paul George that he should commit to them for the long term — something many around the league question will happen before George can be a free agent in 2018. For the Wizards, it’s to try and add the extra bench piece it needs. It will be a surprise if one or both come up empty between now and Thursday.
15. Whether they do come up empty could depend largely on some of the other potential selling teams. The most fascinating of those teams is Denver, which has already traded for Mason Plumlee last week and still faces the same dilemma: do the Nuggets push in their chips to try and strengthen its chances of making a playoff push? Or do they potentially sell off some pieces to try and ease some of their overflow of players worthy of playing more minutes than they can in Denver?
16. There’s a reason why so many Nuggets are rumored to be available at the moment. But will Denver move on from any of them, and if they do, what will they want in return? Those choices could determine the futures of Washington, Indiana and several other teams this week.
17. The Los Angeles Lakers have a pair of players, in Lou Williams and Nick Young, who could attract some attention this week. Williams has been repeatedly linked to Washington, and a deal involving a pick going to the Lakers for Williams makes some sense, especially given that he’s signed through next season, and Washington has little interest in moving a pick for a player who will be a rental.
18. Another thing to watch for is teams trying to unload salaries. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban told ESPN on Monday night that his team will be willing to take on contracts for draft-pick compensation, and this is a mode several teams are expected to be shifting into this week. Because the salary cap is expected to basically flatten out this summer and next after escalating by close to $30 million over the past two years, teams that spent big last summer are going to be feeling the pinch moving forward. That’s why it won’t be at all surprising to see a big chunk of the deals done this week turning into teams moving off future salaries to ease luxury-tax burdens. Bad teams in need of picks, such as the Kings, Mavericks and Nets, might get in line to take them on to try and get some young, cheap assets to start building around.
19. Several players who have been rumored to be moved for some time seems unlikely to move on this week. One player who seems destined to, however, is Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio. ESPN reported the Knicks and Wolves have discussed some kind of Rubio-Derrick Rose trade, but a simple swap of those guys wouldn’t be enough. Perhaps Minnesota will revisit earlier talks with Detroit about its own disgruntled point guard, Reggie Jackson, who has been the subject of much discussion recently. But it seems like, one way or another, Minnesota will do what it can to move off Rubio’s money and hand the position over to rookie Kris Dunn and second-year pro Tyus Jones for the long-term.
20. The final thought here is that, given how the past week has gone, it should be assumed to expect the unexpected between now and Thursday even more than most seasons. Serge Ibaka was thought to be a trade target, but his moving to Toronto a week before the trade deadline was expected to be the end of dealing. Then the Kings decided to one-up that by moving Cousins during the All-Star Game to the Pelicans. Given how many possibilities are hanging out there at the moment, it should be a fun and wild final three days until the deadline passes.
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