Follow the money... the Lakers without any watchable stars is like a Bugatti Veyron without gasoline. It is just sitting there rotting. They can't afford to have two bust years. They (Silver and owners) will make the Lakers competative because it's good for business. See 2013 Lakers miraculously making the playoffs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Lakers unwilling to part with Julius Randle in Cousins trade talks. He's lost 20 pounds and his outside shot has improved. A lot.</p>— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mike_Bresnahan/status/614144071246966784">June 25, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
So Lakers want Cousins but dont want to give anything back in return. Sounds reasonable if you are a Lakers fan. This looks more like Lakers are trying to trade Julius and are doing their best to drive his stock up. As in, take Randle, although we dont really want to because he has superpowers now. Fine you can have him for Cousins but not much else.
If the Lakers have a trade lined up for Cousins but Julius Randle is the deal-breaker, I will take part in many laughs.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kings owner Vivek Ranadive has considered possibility of firing George Karl just 4 months after hiring coach. (via <a href="https://twitter.com/Chris_Broussard">@Chris_Broussard</a>)</p>— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/614167723929673728">June 25, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I faintly remember there being a time where the Kings were a respectable franchise. It's hard, but somehow I seem to remember something like that.
Ranadive needs to quit being part of the basketball operations. I think the Kings should trade Cousins.
I wonder if the Kings have a legal argument that they can fire George Karl and not pay him any more money owed under the contract because Karl breached his duties by shopping Cousins behind management's back and maybe leaking info to media. Those things cannot help with either Cousins' trade value or an effort to win games. Not sure what the contract says exactly, but one would imagine that any employee has a basic duty of loyalty to the employer and doing what Karl is accused of doing just doesn't feel very loyal to me.
Sounds like Karl told Vivek what he wanted to hear, Karl gets $15m contract, and a few months later Karl flip flops and now wants to trade their franchise player so Vivek is going to fire him. Smart retirement planning by Karl.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Current mood <a href="https://t.co/k6fjR9kPke">https://t.co/k6fjR9kPke</a></p>— Rudy Gay (@RudyGay8) <a href="https://twitter.com/RudyGay8/status/614174633386971136">June 25, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
