DeMarcus Cousins Traded From Sacramento Kings To New Orleans Pelicans

Sacramento has agreed to trade DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans, league source tells @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) February 20, 2017

Deal with the Pels includes guard Buddy Hield, and a 2017 first-round pick to the Kings for Cousins, league sources tell @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) February 20, 2017

Sources: New Orleans is also sending the Kings a 2017 second-round pick (via Philadelphia) and Tyreke Evans in deal, league sources said.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) February 20, 2017

The Pelicans are including guard Langston Galloway in deal to the Kings, who’ll likely be waived, league sources tell @TheVertical.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) February 20, 2017

During the 2017 NBA All Star game, a shocking trade scenario developed which has just been finalized, the Sacramento Kings have agreed to trade star big man DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans. The assets which will be moving to the Kings are rookie guard Buddy Hield, as well as the Pelicans first and second round pick in 2017 NBA Draft, as well as Tyreke Evans who is on an expiring contract. The New Orleans Pelicans now have DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis, arguably the two best big men in the game, on the same team.

DeMarcus Cousis is due a massive contract extension this summer, and the Kings determined that they were not willing to commit $200 million to a player who has issues both on and off the court, so they decided to move Cousins to the highest bidder. 

The Lakers were involved, but refused to include rookie Brandon Ingram in the deal, the Kings said they needed Ingram or the Lakers were out. The Lakers held firm and were told they were eliminated from consideration. 

The Boston Celtics were clearly not interested in acquiring DeMarcus Cousins, because they had more assets than any other team and could have trumped the deal that the Kings ended up accepting, but were not involved in the talks. 

The Phoenix Suns made an offer but the exact pieces have not been revealed. 

The Kings ended up accepting the Pelicans offer of Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans (expiring contract), Langston Galloway, a first and second round pick in the 2017 NBA Draft in exchange for DeMarcus Cousis and forward Omri Casspi. 

For the Kings, it’s another rebuild, and they will have to get lucky in the loaded 2017 NBA Draft to rebuild quickly.

The Pelicans now have the only two players to average over 20 points and 10 rebounds per game in each of the last four seasons, it could take a while for these two twin towers to gel together, but Anthony Davis is skilled enough where he almost plays like a wing in the offensive end while Cousins will dominate the post. They still have excellent point guard Jrue Holiday, and other than Hield, they really did not give up any players who got significant minutes for Cousins. They will needed to add shooting, but with the two best big men in the league on the same roster, the Pelicans are going to be tough to deal with once they learn how to play together.