Lakers Allegedly Pursuing Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins

Despite many suitors, the Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly pursuing the Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins, according to ESPN’s sources.

Lakers Pursuing Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins

Rumors about DeMarcus Cousins’ future in Sacramento have been rampant. There have been reports that plenty of teams, including the Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets, were the frontrunners to get the 24-year-old center. However, the Lakers now top this list, as ESPN’s sources claimed that the team has been feverishly pursuing a trade.

The deal would be a three-team swap between the Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento Kings, which would apparently leave Cousins a Laker and Sacramento would fill the void with the Magic’s Nikola Vucevic. However, there are a lot of moving parts to this deal, as all three teams have top ten picks in the draft.

First, the Lakers would not be able to trade their first round pick until after the selection: NBA rules state that you cannot dish out consecutive first round picks before the draft and L.A. already owes Philadelphia their 2016 first-rounder. On top of this, the Magic would need to be given a lot to depart with Vucevic, who averaged 19.3 PPG in 2014-15. And finally, Kings VP Vlade Divac vehemently denied trade rumors, as he told The Sacramento Bee that he does not plan on getting rid of Cousins.

“[A Cousins trade] is not happening,” Divac said. “But I would love to do something — a smaller move — before the draft. We have a lot of changes to make.” Only time will tell if a trade will happen, but the Lakers are not giving up hope for the time being.

During the 2014-15 season, Cousins averaged 24.1 PPG, 1.7 BPG, 3.6 APG and 12.7 RPG, which were all career highs.