Sacramento Kings made a surprising decision right after the All-Star Game ended on Sunday, Feb. 20 to trade its center DeMarcus Cousins and forward Omri Casspi to New Orleans Pelicans. The trade happened just a few weeks after the Kings management said Cousins is off the table for trade.
Cousins and Casspi were sent to New Orleans in exchange for Tyreke Evans, Buddy Hield, Langston Galloway, along with first and second round picks of the 2017 NBA Draft. According to Sacramento Bee, this means the Kings has given up to playoffs race. Currently, Sacramento Kings only trails by one and a half game from Denver Nuggets for the 8h position in the Western Conference.
The trade is a surprising news for fans and NBA spectators. It is because few weeks earlier Sacramento Kings has said that the 6’11” center is out of the trade market. In New Orleans, Cousins and Davis will re-enact their amazing play in the NBA All-Star Game to form a twin towers for the Pelicans.
One of main trigger to the deal is personal preference of Kings’ owner Vivek Ranadive who applaud Pelicans point guard Hield, as reported by ESPN. Ranadive has long targeted Hield to join the Kings, because he believes the he has the capability to be the new Stephen Curry.
The 6’4” guard is a high scoring player during his college year with 17.4 points average during four years playing for Oklahoma Sooners. However, after he went professional and selected as sixth overall pick by the Pelicans in 2016 NBA Draft, he showed inconsistencies. Ranadive wanted to have Hield in Sacramento and bring him to the elite level.
As for Cousins, he seemed to take it easy about the trade. Even before the announcement, the reporters asked him about the deal in the post-game interview after the NBA All-Star Games in New Orleans last Sunday. Cousins just shook off the question and answered whatever happens happens.
Watch the post-game interview after the 2017 NBA All-Star Games on Sunday, Feb. 19 as the reporters tried to dig up answers on the trade rumors from Cousins below:
