At last, the rumours surrounding the NBA’s car crash of a franchise, the Sacramento Kings, and their cornerstone centre of the past six and a half seasons DeMarcus Cousins have come to an end. The problematic big man, prone to emotional outbursts, as he leads the league in technical fouls at 16 this season, has frequently told the media that he “wants out” of Sacramento and it appears the New Orleans Pelicans heard his prayers loud and clear. A package of young shooting guard Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway along with a future first and second round pick was put together for the Pelicans and proved to be enough to acquire the league’s fourth leading scorer.
Despite the Kings front office insisting that they were not going to trade Cousins just weeks before this deal occurred, many see this as a step forward for both parties. The Pelicans side of things is the more obvious to see the positives from as they gain the league’s leading centre in points, assists, 3pt FG% and PER, providing some much-needed star power to a team which has found itself stuck in mediocrity since it drafted its franchise player in Anthony Davis back in 2012. The new acquisition also aids the Pelican’s use of Davis, as he is able to move to his preferred position of power forward, where he will no longer get stuck guarding players of much greater weight. The fact that both Davis and Cousins can shoot the three also provides a great deal of spacing, allowing the Pelicans to run five out on the perimeter or allow one of their bigs to work down in the post without too much congestion. The added bonus of the pair being ex-teamates on the USA national side can only help chemistry which should help with the integration of Cousins into the Pelicans system.
The major downside to this is that Cousins has outspokenly been quoted as saying he “doesn’t plan on sticking around” anywhere he is traded. Since his contract is due to expire at the end of the 2017/18 season, New Orleans do not have time to waste impressing their latest roster addition, as Cousins wants above all else to be on a winning team. 
Chemistry issues with both players and coaches have proven to be an issue with Boogie, meaning that this experimental move had best work out or Cousins could find himself out the door faster than he can get a pair of techs. The Pelicans do lose a substantial amount of depth as they give up several young pieces, making their backcourt ever weaker. However, with a starting front line pair averaging 55.5 points and 20.7 rebounds, these two towers could prove to be enough to give this team a real shot at making a lot of post-season noise. In a worst case scenario, with the salary cap increasing further this off-season, there is the potential to add even more talent to this very top-heavy roster, providing further reasons for Cousins to stick around.
On the flip side, Sacramento may well have made a savvy move by trimming the fat on their salary cap, freeing up room for any potential free agents upcoming at the end of this year such as Blake Griffin. Alternatively it leaves the option for the Kings to go into rebuild mode, hoping for high picks in the draft and to obtain fresh young talent to go alongside a young player with huge potential in Buddy Hield who will develop further with extra playing time.
This move looks to be scary for the rest of the league as it could create a real wildcard in the western conference playoff ppicture. A pairing of two big-men at this level of stardom is something we seldum see, not seen since the days of Tim Duncan and David Robinson in San Antonio and that seemed to work out pretty well when it came to winning a championship. Who knows where this duo could take the Pelicans in years to come? Nobody. But it’s going to be damn fun to watch.
HoopsTunedIn 