National Basketball Association

Report: George Karl pushing for Kings to trade DeMarcus Cousins

Published Jun. 23, 2015 1:40 a.m. ET

foxsports

By Vincent Frank

It’s now officially a story.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports dropped a bomb early Tuesday morning by indicating that Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl is pushing hard for the team to trade All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins.

The respected NBA insider, citing sources close to the situation, is reporting that Karl has even gone to current Kings players in order to show a united front in support of a Cousins trade.

From the report:

“Karl has been recruiting Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac and multiple players on the Kings’ roster to unite with him in making the case to owner Vivek Ranadive that Cousins needs to be traded, league sources said.”

Sources went on to tell Wojnarowski that it’s unlikely the “coach-star partnership can peacefully co-exist next season.”

Earlier on Monday, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that the Kings have had preliminary discussions about sending Cousins to the Los Angeles Lakers in a larger three-team deal that includes the Orlando Magic.

The interesting dynamic here is that Kings vice president Vlade Divac went out of his way to quiet these rumors just recently.

Cousins, who is seen as a malcontent around league circles, was not happy when the team fired former head coach Mike Malone during the 2014-15 season. If he cannot build a relationship with Karl, there is a possibility that things could blow up in Sacramento.

That belief was mirrored by Wojnarowski in his report:

“No one in the Sacramento organization – not coaches, nor players, nor support staff – wants to imagine the combustible scenario awaiting Karl and Cousins should the Kings try to reunite them in training camp.”

Yes, this story just got a tad more interesting.

With just a couple days until the 2015 NBA draft, we will assuredly hear more reports and rumors surrounding a potential Cousins trade. But for now, Wojnarowski’s report clarifies things a bit further.

More from Sportsnaut: