The Kings and DeMarcus Cousins are reportedly on track to work out a long-term extension during the offseason. Cousins was asked about the breaking news after the team’s win over the Pistons on Tuesday and he responded by expressing his desire to remain with the franchise, as Sean Cunningham of ABC10 Sacramento passes along (Twitter video link).
“I love Sacramento,” Cousins said. “It’s where I want to be.”
The big man could make upwards of $209MM with a new extension, though the exact figures won’t be known until the salary cap for the 2017/18 campaign is determined.
Here’s more from Sacramento:
- The Kings will likely never be a free-agent destination for the league’s top stars, but in signing Cousins to a long-term deal, the franchise could be appealing to second-tier free agents, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer contends. O’Connor notes that the team could have as much as $50MM in available cap space this summer.
- If the Kings and Cousins end up working out a long-term contract, the organization will end up regretting the deal, Mitch Lawrence of The Sporting News argues. Lawrence continues to question Cousins’ leadership ability and he doesn’t believe the team can become a contender with the big man as its franchise player.
- Sacramento’s quest to make the playoffs this season has led to less playing time for the team’s young prospects, Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee writes. The Kings are utilizing their D-League in order to give their rookies court-time and they are making communication a priority as well. “We keep tabs on them,” coach Dave Joerger said. “We watch their games and make sure we reach out to them and say, ‘Hey, we watched the game last night.’ So that there’s always a connection when you’re out there.”
Totally disagree with Lawrence. Beating up on the Kings is becoming a worn out parlor trick.
Anybody who lived through the Sixers trading Charles Barkley (for Jeff Hornacek, Tim Perry and Andrew Lang) because he was a “flawed star” (spitting on little girls and whatnot) understands that it is far worse with no star at all.
After years of taking well-deserved abuse, the Kings are actually knocking on the door of the playoffs with a considerable amount of cap money to spend, and the solution is to tank?
As a Philadelphia fan, I am flattered that the Hinkie approach is now coming into vogue. However, the Sixers were not in the situation the Kings were in. Jrue Holiday, our best player, was an all-star point guard, but not one of the top three, maybe five. Whereas Cousins is the best center in the game, clearly top three at least.
The Kings have an arena to fill. Derrick Rose, Garrett Temple, Matt Barnes, Amir Johnson/Pat Patterson, Demarcus Cousins.
The Kings front office deserves all the beating and then some. They have shown no talent at finding talent. They’ve had a franchise center for a long time and this is the first year they’re even close to the playoffs. Which just means they’ll get swept by the warriors or spurs The last two drafts they have drafted 3 centers with lottery picks when they already have a franchise with the “best center in the game” And even with those 3 young centers they are unwilling to trade cousins which could get them a couple high picks in this years draft (supposed to have a couple superstars). Still have fired coach after coach and so far has wasted Cousins best years with nothing looking good on the horizon. Even they’re second best player wants nothing to do with the franchise with Rudy gay stating on multiple occasions that he will test free agency. The Kings front office is probably the second worst run in the NBA. No one can top the Nets
Actually the worst, you realize the Nets have a new gm in Sean Marks who is doing a great job
Yeah, but Billie King was so bad he should be on every crappy GM list for eternity. Like the butt fumble would still be the worst of the worst voted play on sports center everyday, but they retired it.
A well thought out and articulated post in the NBA section? Wow
Btw, totally agree with you