Yea, I don't buy that one. Kings have no reason to trade Cousins. None. Superstars only get traded when there is worry that they are about to leave. He has three years left on his deal.
Why would they do that unless Sactown wants the contract. The Lakers have cap space to swallow Cousin's deal whole without matching salaries.
I am still beyond blown away that the Kings would hire a coach in George Karl, who didn't have any interest in coaching their franchise player. How does that not come up in the initial meetings? Basically, it is Karl saying, "I want to coach the Kings, but I don't like any of their players, can we just see if we can trade for all of my older player on Denver" (and just pretend I didn't get fired?)
I think i just answered my own question. They could sign Love first and then use Hill to trade for Cousins using the 150 percent rule.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rockets have picked up their team option on Kosta Papanickolau</p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/613816973055668224">June 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The Houston Rockets have picked up the option on forward Kostas Papanikolaou's 2015-'16 contract, league source tells Yahoo Sports.</p>— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/613817430238982144">June 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sometimes teams want something in return when trading their superstars. The Kings would be stupid to trade him tho. They are a point guard and maybe power forward away from squeezing themselves into the playoff picture. I've seen the Kings do dumber things.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU! The one guy in the NBA who I always spell wrong without looking it up first. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ashamed?src=hash">#ashamed</a></p>— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNSteinLine/status/613818201277861891">June 24, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Nothing we haven't heard but: http://www.cbssports.com/nba/writer...trying-to-move-up-heat-contemplating-a-gamble
There is no way we are drafting a player to keep unless it's someone that has gem written all over them. We need someone to contribute now because we are in win now mode.
Why would we need to take on that contract? We already have Dwight making 22 mil and we've got a quality backup in Capela. Plus I'm not really eager to help the Spurs in their efforts to get Aldridge.
Ken Berger: Hi Daryl, who are you picking at the 18th? Daryl Morey: We looked at the stats of all the players. Tyus Jones just blew us away with his efficiency, smarts and intangibles. Who else did you expect? Ken Berger: Yeah, it was dumb of me to even think it could be anyone else. Hangs up the phone.
