DeMarcus Cousins fires up the rumor mill again, this time with John Wall and Eric Bledsoe
Take a moment to search “DeMarcus Cousins” and “trade,” and you’ll surely find rumors from the past 24 hours by both reputable and fake news outlets. Tomorrow will yield the same result. Sometimes, the Sacramento Kings big man downplays the rumors; other times, as in this instance, he fuels them.
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Cousins was in what intrepid Washington Post beat reporter Candace Buckner described as “a playful mood” prior to Monday’s game between his Kings and former University of Kentucky teammate John Wall’s Wizards in D.C., answering pregame questions about their relationship from a pool of reporters.
That’s when Cousins dropped this matchstick on the fiery subject of him and Wall playing together:
A smiling DeMarcus Cousins said: "You never know what will happen. It’s the NBA so hopefully one day (Wall) will be in a Sacramento uniform"
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) November 28, 2016
The friendship between the two, along with fellow former Wildcat and current Phoenix Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe, is no secret. The three played one season together at Kentucky, although they were friendly from their prep and AAU basketball days, before all entering the 2010 NBA Draft. Wall went first to the Wizards, Cousins fifth to the Kings and Bledsoe 18th to the Los Angeles Clippers.
“We used to call them ‘The Three Amigos,'” former Kentucky assistant coach Scott Padgett told Slam magazine in March. “You could not separate John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe. To be honest with you, other than them playing against each other, they’re probably still on the phone with each other all the time (to this day). They’re still very tight.”
Combined, they earned $133 million over their first six seasons, and they each stand to make eight figures annually for the foreseeable future. Wall and Bledsoe’s contracts don’t run out until 2018-19 in Washington and Phoenix, respectively, and Cousins is signed in Sacramento through next season.
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With that in mind, here’s the full pregame exchange with Cousins, via the Locked on Wizards podcast:
Reporter: “Last thing. Do you guys ever commiserate or with the situations you’re in —”
Cousins: “Do we ever talk about playing with one another? Is that your question? It’s came up. They’re going to all come to Sac.” (Smile). “Come to Sac.”
Reporter: “That’s it?”
Cousins: “That’s it.” (laughs)
Reporter: “Why won’t you come to the East Coast?”
Cousins: “Come to [Sacramento].”
Reporter: “What does he respond?”
Cousins: “He wants me here. Eric wants us in Phoenix.”
Reporter: “You think there will ever be a time?”
Cousins: “You never know. Maybe. There might be a time we team up in a rec league after we retire or something. You never know.”
Reporter 2: “You guys did that a couple of years ago [in the Goodman League] here during the lockout.”
Cousins: “Yeah. … That was a while ago. I forgot about that.”
Reporter: “In reality — I know that’s your boy — but is that something you’d want?”
Cousins: “… Play with John and Eric again … you never know what will happen. It’s the NBA, so hopefully one day he’ll be in a Sacramento uniform.”
In the other locker room after the game — a 101-95 Wizards victory in overtime — Wall was asked about playing with Cousins. “We talk about it all the time,” he said, according to The Washington Post.
For the record, what Cousins, Wall and Bledsoe are doing here is technically considered tampering, per the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. Under Article 35, Section E, tampering is described as “any player who, directly or indirectly, entices, induces, persuades or attempts to entice, induce, or persuade any player … who is under contract to any other Member of the Association to enter into negotiations for or relating to his services.” So, “come to Sac” is tampering by the letter of the law.
Such behavior could result in suspension and/or a fine up to $50,000, although the league has rarely investigated tampering without a complaint filed by one of its teams, and it would seem silly to start policing friendly conversations between former college teammates, since that slippery slope would lead to rampant suspensions and fines across the league. That’s not to say another trade suitor would not log a complaint if, say, the Wizards deal Bradley Beal and a first-round pick or two for Cousins.
The thought of Cousins, Wall and Bledsoe — two All-Stars and another knocking on the door — on the same team is a tantalizing one for Sacramento, Washington and Phoenix fans. The trio led Kentucky to a 35-3 record and the Elite Eight as 19-year-olds in 2009-10. In the NBA, Cousins has never played alongside a guard with Wall or Bledsoe’s level of scoring and playmaking ability, and those two guards have never played with a center as skilled offensively as Cousins. And they’re all only 26 years old.
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Given that Cousins couldn’t join either one of them in free agency until 2018, and there’s no possibility of all three playing together on the same team until 2019 without a trade, we’re sure to see more rumors flare on an almost daily basis for the next three seasons. So, get used to the monotony.
If rumors ever become reality, it seems more likely Cousins would be traded to either Washington or Phoenix, since both have potential lottery picks and talented young players to trade now, than the other way around, since the Kings cannot currently trade a first-round pick until 2021 (their 2017 selection is committed to Chicago and protected for picks 1-10, their 2019 selection is headed to Philadelphia, and they cannot trade a first-rounder in success seasons, ruling out 2018 and 2020.)
Sacramento’s best offer for Wall or Bledsoe would probably have to center around some combination of Willie Cauley-Stein, Georgios Papagiannis, Malachi Richardson and/or Skal Labissiere, and I’m not sure any package of those recent first-round picks would get such a deal done. If you’ll remember, Cousins may actually be the vocal of many harsh critics when it comes to his team’s draft decisions.
But here we are rumor-mongering again. Although, in fairness, Cousins raised the subject this time.
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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
