National Basketball Association

Does DeMarcus Cousins Being Off Trading Block Help Philadelphia 76ers?

Updated Mar. 5, 2020 1:53 a.m. ET

Fansided, Pete Sawan/FanSided via The Sixer Sense

Now that the Sacramento Kings won’t deal DeMarcus Cousins, the Philadelphia 76ers must take advantage of the opportunity and reap the benefits.

February is known for three things: love, romance, and trade rumors. In the NBA, trade rumors make the world go round. Especially in Philadelphia, you’ll never have a season where the team has no ties to any rumors. This season in particular has made the Philadelphia 76ers a team of interest.

Now, on the west coast the Sacramento Kings have become the center, pun intended, controversy. Particularly, their All-Star bigman center DeMarcus Cousins (a.k.a. “Boogie”) has drawn serious attention from general managers across the league. The franchise’s dysfunction is well-documented, and everybody knows it.

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Boogie over time has made himself a mainstay in the rumor mill. It seems like every trade deadline garners a dash of Cousins. The stories range from Cousins’ verbal assault of a beat writer to Boogie wants to sign an extension. You genuinely can’t figure out the real narrative.

But, from the looks of things, Sac-town and Boogie might coexist after all. Kings’ General Manager Vlade Divac made it clear that “[the team]’s not trading DeMarcus”, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein. After years of speculation, this could signal DeMarcus Cousins remaining in Sacramento for a long, long time.

Ideally, it makes sense for both sides. With the new Collective Bargaining Agreement in place, Cousins can make over 200 Million dollars if he chooses to sign an extension with the Kings. With that sort of incentive, why wouldn’t he want to stay put? For Sacramento, this could be the wakeup call the organization needs. Obviously, the team has not seen any real success in a long time. Interestingly enough, they have not made the playoffs in 10 seasons.

So, the threat of Cousins leaving could force the organization to start building around him. There comes a time in every franchise’s history where the same old nucleus just doesn’t work. But, Boogie’s talent alone should warrant the franchise looking to build talent around him. Now, how they go about it is another topic for another day. In the meantime, this helps Philadelphia out in their pursuit for a trade.

Philly Needed This

Now, when you take a top 3 center in the league off the market, everything else seems underwhelming. For a league that has gone away from the 5, it might even feel unnecessary to look for premier big men. But, this might be the opportunity that the Philadelphia 76ers needed.

For a team with an excess amount of centers, Philly needs to make a move. Whether at the trade deadline or at the draft, the Sixers can’t go into the 2017-2018 season with 4 centers. Ideally, moves should focus on either Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel, or Richaun Holmes. In particular, Jah and Nerlens should be seen as the 2 real options for trades.

Now that Boogie’s staying with the Kings, at least for now, it makes Philly’s bigs the most attractive options. With a lack of real options at that position, this trade deadline could see the Sixers finally alleviating the logjam. With Philly’s young, talented bigs on the market, a huge move could happen within the coming weeks.

Philly now has the most attractive pieces on the market, and with that comes some leverage. I can imagine that Bryan Colangelo was as happy as can be when he heard Divac’s remarks on the Cousins’ rumors. With this comes this added sense of “hey, you don’t have many options” for Philadelphia. Colangelo has come out and said that “the phones have been ringing”, in regards to potential trade partners.

New Orleans Didn’t Need This

Now, I’m going to go in a slightly different direction here. As we all know, the New Orleans Pelicans has sought after Jahlil Okafor as of late. I understand that New Orleans wasn’t looking to trade for Cousins, but you have to admit this certainly doesn’t help the Pels.

Because Philly wants to maximize their return for Jah, it makes sense that this is the time to act. Bryan Colangelo has been adamant on not making a bad deal. Now that Jah ranks highest among available centers, a good deal could be in the works.

Obviously, rumors are rumors and don’t mean anything if they don’t come to fruition. But, these rumors act as leverage, and leverage allows teams like Philadelphia to maximize on opportunities. With DeMarcus Cousins staying put, the Sixers reign on top with the best centers available on the market. Interest for these pieces will likely go up as we get closer to the deadline. Hopefully, Philly can make the deal that they need in order to solve all of their issues.