The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly working hard to bring DeMarcus Cousins to LA.
This is not a drill. On Monday afternoon, Marc Stein of ESPN first reported that the Lakers were actively working on ways to get the Sacramento Kings' center out of Northern California and down to Southern California. With viable trade bait like the no. 2 pick in Thursday's NBA Draft and a couple of attractive young assets in Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson, the Lakers appear to be working on prying Cousins away from cowbell country.
Stein first reported the Lakers' interest on Monday afternoon. Then, Monday night came, and Yahoo! Sports NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski chimed in with a bomb of a story. Wojnarowski reported that new Kings' head coach George Karl had been actively lobbying and recruiting players and upper management to help convince Kings' owner Vivek Ranadive to trade away Cousins.
The scathing report did not take long to set fire to the Internet, and Cousins found his own way of adding to the public fervor that took hold late Monday night.
������ — DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) June 23, 2015
Cousins' tweet of a snake in the context of Wojnarowski's report on Karl could hardly be perceived as subtle. As things stand, the coach and star player seem to be at odds with one another, and the situation would appear to be beyond repair. Should Sacramento choose to part with the All-Star center rather than its brand-new coach, the Lakers can offer the no. 2 pick in the draft, which would likely turn into center Jahlil Okafor out of Duke University. Thus, the Kings can immediately replace Cousins with another center.
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Of course, the Lakers would likely need to part with more than just the draft pick, but getting a proven big man who is still only 24 years young would be a quick way to turn around a franchise that is coming off its worst season in history--worst two seasons in history, if we limit the franchise to only Los Angeles.
Opponents to getting Cousins point to the fact that the Lakers would give up salary cap flexibility by acquiring the Kings' center. For the next season, the Lakers would be significantly more limited in their summer spending, but with Kobe Bryant's contract coming off the books in one year's time and the NBA's TV revenue expected to raise the salary cap significantly, the Lakers would have a cornerstone to build around. Luring star players to come play alongside an All-Star big man entering the prime of his career is a significantly easier sales job than asking free agents to join a team of young unproven talents on a team not projected to make the playoffs.
Stated simply, the no. 2 pick is still a gamble and Cousin is not. The Lakers would likely prefer to hold onto Randle over Clarkson in any trade package, and the Lakers' no. 27 and no. 34 draft picks could assist in doing just that. If a deal is reached, those late first round and early second round draft picks are sure to be in the mix.
For the Lakers, the late Monday night tweet from Cousins should have helped Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak sleep well at night, while Karl and the Kings probably came into their offices with red eyes in the morning.
Unless Sacramento refuses to send Cousins to LA due to its direct rivalry, the Lakers should have one of the best offers on the table--if not the best offer. This may be far from a done deal, but LA may have just found its next big man.
