“A league source tells Forbes.com that the Lakers would still trade newly-drafted D’Angelo Russell for Cousins”, writes Mark Heisler of Forbes.
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The Kings granted DeMarcus Cousins’ agent, Dan Fegan, to pursue a trade before the draft last week, as it’s been said Cousins is not happy with head coach George Karl initially wanting to ship him out of town.
The Los Angeles Daily News is reporting that the Lakers still would trade No. 2 draft choice D’Angelo Russell for Cousins if that were an option, per a source. While he had something of a down season trying to fit in alongside LeBron James and is recovering from a shoulder injury the Lakers still will have a max contract ready and waiting for him on July 1st.
Simply put, this needs to happen.
Before the draft, Ranadive shot down rumors that Cousins was headed for the Lakers in a trade involving the Magic. Cousins occupies much more, and moving a single player for him would spell problems for the Lakers’ payroll. However, they would be more eager to acquire a proven player rather than wait for its current youngsters to grow, as Kobe Bryant has hinted that next season might be his final one in his NBA career.
OKC has Russell Westbrook, the Cavaliers have Kyrie Irving, Chicago has Derrick Rose and Steph Curry won an NBA title and an MVP with Golden State playing the star guard role. The team could look at going after Cousins and signing a number of free agents to try and win now, but that would be a short-sighted plan and not a franchise building one. Amick has a good track record and our own Aaron Bruski is on top of it, and this piece of the story goes back to Cousins’ agent telling the Kings his client wanted to be traded a while back.
“Honestly, if the Kings can get Russell, Julius Randle and a future pick, they should probably pull the trigger”, CBS Sports reported.
Although, for Russell straight up?
The lightning rod could be the potential big-man free agent the Lakers are able to land in July. A young core of Willie Cauley-Stein, Randle, and Russell would allow the team to build from the ground up with a team filled with great promise.
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The Los Angeles Lakers have been linked to many big men in free agency, including Kevin Love and LaMarcus Aldridge.
