Kings Rumors: Cauley-Stein, Collison, Cousins

The Kings appear to be one of the teams most likely to make a trade this season, with a number of their players having already been the subject of various rumors and speculation. Most recently, a Friday report indicated that the team is open to the idea of moving Willie Cauley-Stein, while over the weekend, Omri Casspi denied reports that he wants to be traded by the Kings.

According to Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link), however, the Kings aren’t looking to trade anyone – especially players on rookie contracts – for now. That isn’t a big surprise, since most teams don’t get serious about exploring trades until December 15, when most recent signees become trade-eligible. Jones reports (via Twitter) that the Kings are happy with Cauley-Stein’s approach and are still optimistic about him taking a big step forward, and adds that the team wants to take a longer look at the full lineup with Darren Collison back before making any major decisions.

Here are a few more Kings-related rumors:

• League executives who spoke to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News about the Kings believe that if the club looks bad in its upcoming five-game home stand, it could lead to some roster changes. Despite the lack of travel, it won’t be an easy stretch for the Kings, who will face the Spurs, Clippers, Raptors, Thunder, and Rockets.
• Deveney’s sources also believe that the Kings could finally get serious about moving DeMarcus Cousins this season, but there will be roadblocks. “You have one owner in Sacramento who does not want to give him up,” an Eastern Conference general manager told Deveney. “And you have 29 other owners who don’t want to overpay because they are scared the guy is going to be a headache and is going to hurt the organization.”
• A Western Conference GM weighs in to Deveney on the possibility of the Kings trading Cousins: “It is not going to happen unless the Kings cave a little. No one is going to give up too much for someone who might ruin your team’s chemistry this year, then ruin it next year when he is playing for free-agent money. If they don’t see that, then I don’t think it changes and I don’t think he goes anywhere. I don’t know that is good for them or for him, either. But that’s the reality.”