No player has been in as many trade rumors without being traded than DeMarcus Cousins over the past few seasons. The Sacramento Kings’ center is the sole star on a team that has often been dysfunctional. His less-than-private outcries about the state of the team have not helped the consistent speculation surrounding the big man.
But perhaps all of those rumors and reports were nothing but speculation. According to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, that may just be the case. He had the following to say on the Washington Post’s podcast when asked if he thought Boogie would finish the year in Sacramento (h/t Hoopshype for the transcription):
I think so… Things do tend to happen fast in the NBA… I don’t think the Kings have ever been seriously close to trading him.
This could mean multiple things. Either there were no real conversations about trading Cousins. Or, more probably, the Kings discussed potential trades in the event that Cousins requested one but did not actively pursue them.
That should not be surprising, of course. It’s difficult to find players of DeMarcus Cousins’ caliber. Unless you have no other options, you try to keep those players around for as long as possible.
