Kings Trade Center DeMarcus Cousins To New Orleans Pelicans

Only an hour after the NBA All-Star game concluded in the Big Easy, reports began to leak that the Sacramento Kings were heavily shopping their polarizing star center, DeMarcus Cousins. Before players could even leave the Smoothie King Center, Yahoo! Sports Adrian Wojnarowski broke the story right before midnight (Feb. 19), that the Kings agreed to a mega-deal sending Cousins and Omri Casspi to the New Orleans Pelicans for an underwhelming package containing Buddy Hield, a 2017 first and second round pick, Tyreke Evans and Langston Galloway.

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Sacramento has agreed to trade DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans, league source tells @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) February 20, 2017

Kings wanted Brandon Ingram in a trade package for Cousins, but Lakers refused to include him, league sources tell @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) February 20, 2017

But DeMarcus Cousins’ agent Jarinn Akana tells ESPN that Cousins is unlikely to sign a summer extension with any team that trades for him

— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) February 20, 2017

Wojnarowski also reported that the Los Angeles Lakers were heavily involved in negotiations for Cousins’ services, but did not want to come off their 2016 first-round pick, Brandon Ingram in any deal. Earlier this month (Feb. 7), Kings management said they would not trade Cousins prior to the deadline, and would look to lock him up with an extension in Sacramento. Check out when the 26-year-old first found out about the deal, when he met the media for his post-game press conference after the West’s 192-182 victory over the East in the All-Star game.

DeMarcus Cousins reaction as soon as he found out he had been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans. #DeMarcusCousins #NewOrleans #Pelicans pic.twitter.com/SDKuE2ZEAY

— Manny Vieites (@manny_vieites) February 20, 2017

The acquisition came to the surprise of many with the trade deadline not until Feb. 22. Cousins gets out of Sac-town to form the best big-man duo in the NBA, teaming up with fellow Kentucky Wildcat Anthony Davis, who dropped 52 points on his way to MVP honors in the All-Star game Sunday (Feb. 19). The Pelicans currently sit 2.5 games out of the playoff picture in the Western Conference at 23-34. The three-time All-Star is eager to get his first taste of playoff basketball, and is under contract through the 2017-18 season.

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