Marcus Cousin Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: Cousins, Karl, Thompson, West

February 13th, 2015 at 12:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Kings are poised for trade deadline action after resolving their coaching situation, while in Phoenix, suitors are lining up for Goran Dragic. We’ll run through the latest news and notes from a busy Pacific Division here:

DeMarcus Cousins praised new Kings coach George Karl to reporters at All-Star weekend in New York, saying he looked forward to working with him, tweets Mike Mazzeo of ESPNNewYork.com. The center has expressed exasperation with the team’s coaching turmoil.
Karl was the right choice for the Kings, argues Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee, who also lists Scott Brooks among the names of coaches who would have been candidates for the Sacramento job if the team hadn’t hired Karl.
Warriors coach Steve Kerr was largely responsible for halting a proposed blockbuster last summer that would have sent Klay Thompson to the Timberwolves in exchange for Kevin Love, according to Sean Deveney of the Sporting News. Kerr and Warriors team consultant Jerry West talked ownership out of making the swap, which would have also sent David Lee to Minnesota and Kevin Martin to Golden State, Deveney adds. A source close the talks told Deveney that the trade was a done deal until Kerr, who took the job with the expectation of coaching Thompson, and West convinced management not to do it.
The jealousy that the Warriors worried might develop when they gave Thompson a more lucrative extension than Stephen Curry got a few years ago hasn’t developed, and Thompson doesn’t regret agreeing to contract terms that might give him less than the max, as Deveney writes in the same piece.
West, who made his mark as an executive with the Lakers, is confident the Lakers wouldn’t ask him back, as he said on 95.7 The Game, as station host Matt Steinmetz relays (Twitter links). West’s son, Ryan, is the Lakers’ assistant scouting director, notes Yannis Koutroupis of Basketball Insiders (on Twitter).
Trading Dragic would be a wise move because the Suns are not true title contenders, Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic argues. Bickley believes the Suns should be acquiring trade assets in order to make a future move to acquire a superstar talent rather than adding short-term pieces such as Ray Allen or Amar’e Stoudemire. If the Suns can add a first-round pick by swapping Dragic while concurrently breaking their point guard logjam, they should not hesitate, Bickley concludes.

Dana Gauruder contributed to this post.

And-Ones: Kings, Allen, Lopez, Wolves

February 11th, 2015 at 10:33am CST by Chuck Myron

DeMarcus Cousins and Tyrone Corbin both called the latest round of Kings coaching upheaval a “distraction,” as Jason Jones of The Sacramento Bee relays (Twitter link). Cousins released a statement through his agency saying that he hadn’t been consulted when the team fired Michael Malone and isn’t being consulted now, expressing hope for a quick resolution and support for George Karl should the team choose to hire him. Still, Cousins decried the public chatter of a coaching move while Corbin remains in place. Rudy Gay, who’s hinted at dissatisfaction with Corbin in the past, instead expressed admiration Tuesday for the job Corbin’s done under trying circumstances, as Jones also notes in his story.

While we wait to see how it all plays out in Sacramento, here’s more from around the league:

A Nets source tells Windrem that no deal with the Hornets involving Lopez, Stephenson and Zeller was ever that close (Twitter link).

Earlier updates:

There’s no guarantee that Ray Allen makes his decision on whether or not he’ll return to the NBA this season within 10 days of All-Star Weekend, as Jim Tanner, Allen’s agent, tells Chris Broussard of ESPN (Twitter link). It was rumored that the 39-year-old sharpshooter was going to make a choice regarding his future shortly after the All-Star break.
The Hornets offered Lance Stephenson and Cody Zeller to the Nets last month and were ready to call the league office to finalize the trade, reports Robert Windrem of NetsDaily (All Twitter links). The sides were quite close to agreement, Windrem adds, and so close that people at the D-League Showcase, which was taking place at the time, thought it was a fait accompli, Grantland’s Zach Lowe tweets. It was the closest Brooklyn has come to trading Lopez, Joe Johnson or Deron Williams this year, according to the NetsDaily scribe.
The Wolves sent the Hornets $344,462 in cash Tuesday in the Mo Williams trade, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders shows on his Wolves salary page (Twitter link). Minnesota created two trade exceptions in that deal, one worth Troy Daniels‘ $816,482 salary and another worth the $500K difference between the salaries for Williams and Gary Neal, Pincus tweets.
That means the Wolves had to take Adreian Payne into one of their existing trade exceptions to make their trade with the Hawks work, and that’s just what Minnesota did. The Wolves absorbed Payne’s $1,855,320 salary into their $4,702,500 Corey Brewer exception, leaving the $6,308,193 Kevin Love exception untouched and reducing the Brewer exception to $2,847,180, as Pincus shows on the Basketball Insiders Wolves salary page.
The Hawks would wind up with Minnesota’s second-round picks for both 2020 and 2021 if the lottery-protected 2017 first-rounder the Wolves gave up in the Payne trade doesn’t convey to Atlanta by 2019 at the latest, Pincus also reports on that page.

Charlie Adams contributed to this post.

Spurs Waive Maggette, Kabongo, Cousin

October 15th, 2013 at 11:57am CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs have reduced their preseason roster by three players, the team announced today in a press release. According to the club, Corey Maggette, Myck Kabongo, and Marcus Cousin have been waived.

Maggette’s release is particularly notable, since the veteran scorer suggested over the weekend that he’d be headed for retirement if he didn’t earn an NBA roster spot this season. There has been no official announcement from Maggette yet, but assuming he does retire, he’ll finish his 14-year NBA playing career with 13,198 points in 827 total contests, having played for the Magic, Clippers, Warriors, Bucks, Bobcats, and Pistons. The longtime Clipper is expected to transition into a front office role at some point.

Having waived three camp invitees, the Spurs are now carrying 16 players — 14 guaranteed contracts, plus Courtney Fells and Daniel Nwaelele. Fells and Nwaelele may both be cut before opening night, as at least one report has indicated San Antonio is likely to start the season with a 14-man roster.

As for Kabongo and Cousin, one or both of them could end up with the Spurs’ D-League affiliate in Austin. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported when San Antonio first added Kabongo to its camp roster that the undrafted rookie would likely land in the D-League with the Toros, and reiterated that point today (Twitter link).

Spurs Add Three To Camp Roster

September 30th, 2013 at 2:26pm CST by Luke Adams

The Spurs have finalized their roster for training camp, and there are three names on the list which hadn't previously been reported. According to Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News (via Twitter), Marcus Cousin, Courtney Fells, and Daniel Nwaelele will be with the club in camp.

Cousin, 26, went undrafted in 2009 and has played for multiple D-League and international teams since then, as well as appearing in four games for the Jazz in 2011. The 6'11" big man was the leading scorer for Japan's Kyoto Hannaryz last season, averaging 14.5 PPG and 9.7 RPG in 57 contests.

Fells played his college ball in 2009 and, like Cousin, has bounced around since then. He played in Israel with Hapoel Jerusalem last season, and earned a spot on the Celtics' Summer League squad in July. As for Nwaelele, he was reportedly offered a contract by the Spurs back in 2007, but was still committed to service in the Air Force. The 6'5" guard finished his five-year commitment to the Air Force last year and joined the D-League's Santa Cruz Warriors for the 2012/13 season.

Minor Moves: Gadzuric, Cavs, Ford, Tyler, Cousin

March 6th, 2012 at 3:08pm CST by Luke Adams

We'll keep tabs on all of Tuesday's notable international and D-League-related moves right here:

Less than a week after signing with the D-League, Dan Gadzuric has already been traded, and will join the Texas Legends, tweets Scott Schroeder of Ridiculous Upside.
The Cavaliers have assigned Christian Eyenga and Luke Harangody to the Canton Charge, the team's D-League affiliate, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer (Twitter link). It's the second D-League assignment this season for both players.
Having finished his one-day stint with the Austin Toros, T.J. Ford has been recalled by the Spurs, the team announced today. Ford is returning from a torn left hamstring that has sidelined him for all but ten games this season.
The Warriors have recalled Jeremy Tyler from their D-League affiliate, the team announced in a press release. Tyler played five games for the Dakota Wizards during his assignment, averaging 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game.
Marcus Cousin, not to be confused with DeMarcus Cousins, has signed with Venezuela's Guaiqueries de Margarita, according to Sportando. The 6'11" Cousin appeared in four games with the Jazz last season.