NBA Trade Rumors 2015: Los Angeles Lakers Eyeing DeMarcus Cousins in Three-Team Deal
The Los Angeles Lakers are expected to make big moves this season, and reports on Monday night revealed the Purple and Gold squad are in play for a trade involving Sacramento Kings superstar DeMarcus Cousins.
According to Marc Stein of ESPN, the Lakers are one of the most active suitors of Cousins, who is continuously being mentioned in numerous trade rumors despite denial from the Kings' camp.
Sources indicated that the Lakers are exploring options to acquire Cousins. One the possible deal that they are looking at is a transaction involving the Orlando Magic. In the rumored deal, Cousins will end up in Los Angeles, while the Magic will send improving center Nikola Vucevic to Sacramento.
It is unclear at this point what the Lakers will give up in the deal, but they will likely give up their second overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft on Thursday. Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle could also be involved in the deal.
When asked about the rumored deal, Kings owner Vivek Ranadive insisted that they have no plans to move Cousins this offseason, which was also the same stance of Kings vice president of basketball and franchise operations Vlade Divac, who recently said that it makes no sense to trade their best player.
"We have zero interest in moving Cousins, so I don't know where that's coming from," Ranadive told USA Today. "But if you like, you should talk to Vlade, because I know Vlade feels exactly the same way. And I'm deferring to Vlade on everything. We have no interest in moving him."
However, aside from the ESPN report, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports also reported that Cousins could be traded this summer because of Kings head coach George Karl.
Karl, who took over midway through last season after the Kings decided to part ways with Mike Malone, has "intense desire" to trade Cousins because he is convinced they cannot coexist in Sacramento. The veteran head coach is reportedly reaching out to Divac and some Kings players in order to convince Ranadive to agree to a trade.
Since their campaign last season ended, Cousins was aware of Karl's desire to trade him this summer. The 24-year-old center posted a cryptic tweet on Tuesday morning, which is viewed as his response to the trade rumors.
Cousins, who still has three years left in his four-year deal worth $65.62 million, averaged 24.1 points on top of 12.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game last season.
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