You many have heard the Los Angeles Lakers are preparing to make a move for Sacramento Kings All-Star DeMarcus Cousins.
They're picking a great time to make a move for Boogie. According to Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, Kings head coach George Karl does not want Cousins to remain in Sactown and is pushing management to trade him this offseason.
This, despite Kings management adamantly denying they'll even field offers for Cousins, who they view as a franchise player that should never be dealt.
George Karl's intense desire to trade the All-Star center has made it increasingly unlikely this coach-star partnership can peacefully co-exist next season, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Karl has been recruiting Kings vice president of basketball operations Vlade Divac and multiple players on the Kings' roster to unite with him in making the case to owner Vivek Ranadive that Cousins needs to be traded, league sources said.
Since the end of the 2014-15 season, Cousins has become aware of Karl's campaign to move him – including teammates telling Cousins, sources said. All around the Kings and Cousins, there is a growing belief the coach-player relationship is irreparable. Trust is a constant theme with Cousins, and he's been unable to build any with Karl, sources said.
When Woj reports something, it carries a lot of weight, so there's now reason to believe Cousins or Karl won't be in Sacramento for much longer. Cousins is already taking this battle to social media with this tweet:
— DeMarcus Cousins (@boogiecousins) June 23, 2015
Karl was infamously called 'a snake in the grass' by former Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony when Karl was the head coach in Denver and Melo was being traded. He's also had a run-in with former Nuggets forward and reigning NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.