Why the Kings Made A Huge Mistake Trading Demarcus Cousins
What a week for New Orleans, they get to host the all star game, Anthony Davis takes home game MVP honors, and of course, the Pelicans pulled off what might be the heist of the century by acquiring Demarcus Cousins for Buddy Hield,Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, and a first and second round draft pick. Now it doesn't take much analysis to notice the Pelicans got away with absolute robbery. Simply put, Cousins is easily one of the elite players in the NBA today. So in the event that you feel that type of talent should be traded, you better be getting someone that you feel can match that kind of hype, and unfortunately the Kings are not getting that type of talent in return. In fact, the return they're getting for what they gave up is absolutely abysmal. Buddy Hield is a good player, but the only real attribute he brings to the table is reliable scoring, and Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway are nothing more than good bench pieces. No player there even comes close to the talent level Cousins gives you, and the draft picks? The Kings are unlikely to find anyone that can replace Cousins as the face of the franchise. The Pelicans first round draft pick is likely to be a mid to late round pick, which is definitely not "face of the franchise" territory in the draft. As for the second round pick, the chances of Sacramento finding someone that can even make a real impact on the team is highly unlikely. That being said, nothing Sacramento is receiving is matching the elite talent they just gave up. So that leaves all NBA fans to say "what were they thinking"? The first thing to understand is that Cousins was likely to leave the Kings soon anyway, be it through trade or his upcoming free agency, a great talent like Cousins simply can't stay on a constantly rebuilding team, he would be a better fit on a team that plans to contend soon. Clearly the Kings felt the exact same way, but that's no excuse for wasting valuable trade currency for nothing more than bench pieces and late draft picks. In the event the Kings decided to trade Cousins, it should have been a move that makes the franchise a team to look out for in the future, and now they've only put themselves even farther away from any real window of contention. At the end of the day however, the Kings were supposed to use Cousins, either through trade or keeping him as the centerpiece of the franchise, as the first big step towards serious title contention. But after receiving so little in return it appears that Sacramento is now even farther away from a title than they were just a day ago.
