Blake Griffin: A Historic 4-Team Mega Deal
By Wardell
How this helps the Kings
What they get: Nikola Jokic, Jusuf Nurkic, Emmanuel Mudiay and ’17 Den. first rounder
What they lose: DeMarcus Cousins, Skal Labissiere and a cond. ’17 first rounder
Out of the four teams involved in this trade, the Sacramento Kings are the furthest away from having anything resembling a sense of direction.
It seems as if they are caught between a rock and a hard place, the rock being mediocrity and the hard place being DeMarcus Cousins’ prime. They don’t have enough on their team to challenge the Western Conference, but they also don’t want to force Cousins to suffer through an all-out rebuild.
More from Nuggets News
- Was trading Bones Hyland a mistake for the Denver Nuggets?
- Did Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets break Anthony Davis?
- Denver Nuggets stars face serious disrespect in recent NBA rankings poll
- What will it take for Denver Nuggets star to become ‘inevitable?’
- Denver Nuggets NBA Training Camp report, other preseason dates to know
So as far as the Kings are concerned, this trade is exactly what they need.
They are able to spare Cousins from a rebuild but not by avoiding one, which is a big win for them. However the bigger win is what they get in exchange for their all-star center.
The Kings get to lay the foundation for their future by receiving two low post big men and an athletic point guard, each of whom have all-star potential. In fact, Dave Joerger could mold this team into becoming a younger, more athletic version of the team he just left in Memphis.
If the Kings were to make this trade, then they would go from arguably the most dysfunctional NBA team in recent memory, into one of the most promising for the coming years. A similar transition which Denver just finished completing.
Their only problem would be finding a way to unload Rudy Gay, but that should become easier as the trade deadline approaches.
Next: How this helps the Clippers