The Sacramento Kings?changed course Sunday night and agreed to trade DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans, just two weeks immediately after publicly proclaiming that the All-Star center was off the industry.
The teams announced Monday afternoon that the Pelicans had acquired Cousins and swingman Omri Casspi while sending Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a 2017 first-round choose and a 2017 second-rounder to the Kings.
A front-office supply familiar with the Kings’ pondering said owner Vivek Ranadive’s adoration of Hield was a essential driver in the deal. “Vivek thinks Buddy has Steph Curry potential,” the source told ESPN’s Baxter Holmes.
The six-foot-4 Hield has been inconsistent through his rookie season. As a college senior with Oklahoma, Hield was one of the ideal players in the nation. He is averaging eight.6 points but has been explosive at occasions, posting a season higher of 21 points.
Cousins is averaging 27.8 points and 10.six rebounds this season.?The 3-time All-Star lately served a 1-game suspension right after accruing his 17th technical foul and will be forced to serve further suspensions with every other tech he incurs for the rest of the regular season.
“It was time for a transform and I decided this was the best direction for the organization,” Kings common manager Vlade Divac mentioned in a statement issued Monday. “Winning begins with culture and character matters. With the upcoming draft class set to be a single of the strongest in a decade, this trade will enable us to develop the depth necessary for a talented and developing roster moving forward.
“We thank DeMarcus for his contributions and want him all the best in New Orleans. The fans in Sacramento are the finest in the world and we are all committed to developing a team that will continue to make Sacramento proud.”
The very first-round pick Sacramento will obtain in this rapid-moving blockbuster deal is major-3 protected in the June draft, ESPN has discovered. That means New Orleans ought to immediately surrender the choose if it lands at No. four or decrease.
The Kings also announced Monday that veteran forward Matt Barnes?has been waived, a move that was needed in order to develop roster area to total the Cousins deal.
Sources told ESPN that the Kings and Pelicans came to terms on the trade Sunday even though the NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans was playing out.
The immediacy of landing two picks from what is extensively projected as a powerful draft, as properly as the possibility to start off over amid growing internal concern about Cousins’ unpredictability and run-ins with referees, were chief among the lures that convinced Sacramento to go forward with the trade Sunday, rather than playing the method out until Thursday’s trade deadline.
Sources mentioned the Kings are quietly hopeful that their anticipated slide in the Western Conference standings will ensure that they get to hang on to their personal initial-round pick in the June draft, which will have to be sent to? Chicago?if it falls outdoors of the prime ten. Sacramento (24-33) must therefore wind up with two lottery picks in June to start off reshaping its roster in earnest post-Cousins.
League sources told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that the Pelicans, meanwhile, are confident they will convince Cousins to sign a contract extension to stay in New Orleans in the near future.
“We’re thrilled to welcome DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi to the New Orleans Pelicans loved ones,” basic manager Dell Demps stated in a statement. “This is an exciting time for Pelicans fans as we continue our quest for extended-term results. I know our fans are equally excited to welcome DeMarcus and Omri to our terrific city.”
Cousins, 26, would have been eligible to sign a five-year, $209 million extension with the Kings this summer had he stayed in Sacramento and has spoken openly for weeks about his wish to spend his complete profession there, in spite of the club’s decadelong playoff drought.
“That is residence,” Cousins mentioned of Sacramento in an interview with ESPN Radio earlier this week. “I’m loyal to the city, I am loyal to the fans and I’m loyal to the organization. This is portion of my legacy and I want to bring us back to Betboo the promised land.”
Earlier Sunday evening, before both teams committed to the deal, Cousins’ agent, Jarinn Akana, told ESPN that Cousins would probably pass on an extension with any team that traded for him before Thursday’s deadline.
“I have spoken many times lately with Vivek?and Vlade about DeMarcus’ future with the Kings,” Akana told ESPN.
“They have assured me, and DeMarcus, that the Kings won’t trade him and are committed to signing DeMarcus extended term. In truth, Vlade has gone on record saying precisely the very same issue. If the Kings flip-flop on what they committed, that is on them.
“Below the situations and given the Kings’ commitments, I would come across it very unlikely that DeMarcus would re-sign with a team that trades for him at this point.?”
On Feb. six, Divac told ESPN, “We’re not trading DeMarcus … we hope he’s here for a long time.”
Divac’s public statement, sources stated, followed a face-to-face meeting days earlier in which he assured Cousins and his representatives that there would be no trade and that the sides have been on track for the extension this summer time.
Cousins has 1 season left on his present contract and can grow to be a absolutely free agent in the summer season of 2018. New Orleans would be in a position to supply him a 5-year extension worth an estimated $179 million in July.
The Pelicans — figuring out Cousins grew up some 90 minutes away from New Orleans in Mobile, Alabama — aren’t concerned about their ability to sell the former? Kentucky?star on a lengthy-term future alongside one more former Wildcats star, Anthony Davis.
“I never assume they would have completed the trade with out a lot of self-assurance they could re-sign him,” a single source with know-how of New Orleans’ thinking told Shelburne.
The Pelicans have been hunting for an offensive-minded center to play alongside Davis dating back to final season’s trade deadline, when they flirted with dealing for? Milwaukee’s? Greg Monroe. New Orleans has also pursued? Philadelphia’s? Jahlil Okafor and? Brooklyn’s? Brook Lopez in recent weeks prior to focusing its efforts this week on trying to pry Cousins away from the Kings.
ESPN’s Justin Verrier reported earlier Sunday that New Orleans also attempted to engage the Indiana Pacers in trade discussions involving All-Star swingman Paul George. The Pelicans had been driven?to land prime-level assist to pair with Davis, who earned All-Star Game MVP honors Sunday immediately after scoring a league-record 52 points in the West’s 192-182 victory.
“This is an unbelievable weekend,” Davis told ESPN’s Jeff Goodman following understanding of the trade following his MVP news conference, greeting the news with a smile and a massive thumbs-up.
“All-Star MVP and now obtaining Boogie. It doesn’t get superior than this.”
Davis told Goodman he hasn’t heard something official from management or talked to Cousins however.
Cousins played only two minutes in Sunday night’s All-Star Game. Sources yat?r?ms?z bonus veren siteler told ESPN that Cousins asked West coach Steve Kerr to keep his minutes down for motives unrelated to the trade talks.
Cousins was flying back to Sacramento on a private plane with his assistants and family and is anticipated to return to New Orleans on Tuesday, a supply told The Undefeated’s Marc J. Spears.
Sources told ESPN’s Chris Haynes that the Pelicans will now seek a trade partner to take on energy forward Terrence Jones?and ease their frontcourt logjam.
The Los Angeles Lakers also pursued Cousins in recent days but felt Sacramento’s asking price was as well higher, sources told Shelburne.
Talks promptly fizzled, according to Shelburne, as soon as the Kings informed the Lakers that they weren’t interested unless they would obtain 2016 No. 2 overall choose Brandon Ingram as component of a Cousins deal.
Evans won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year Award in Sacramento in 2010 — beating out Curry?– just before joining New Orleans in the summer of 2013 in free agency via sign-and-trade.
The six-9 Casspi has been playing about 19 minutes per game for the Kings this season, averaging five.9 points and four.1 rebounds.
Data from The Connected Press was incorporated in this report.
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