Report: Maloofs reluctant to trade Cousins; Celtics among teams interested

Ever since the Kings organization suspended DeMarcus Cousins — for fighting with Keith Smart, the coach hired because it was thought he had a good relationship with the young big man — other teams have started poking around to see if the Kings are willing to trade Cousins.

Among the teams very interested are the Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons, reports Marc Stein at ESPN.

But so far, the Kings are not willing to make a move and those orders come from the very top of the organization, Stein reports. No, not George Maloof, the other two.

The early word from the DeMarcus Cousins trade watch, according to the latest rumbles on the personnel grapevine, is that Kings co-owners Gavin and Joe Maloof remain reluctant in the extreme to part with their young big man, especially at a time when — after three suspensions already this season — Cousins’ trade value isn’t exactly on the upswing.

There’s a growing sense among potential suitors that under-fire Kings general manager Geoff Petrie, who has overseen zero trips to the playoffs under five coaches in the six-plus seasons since Rick Adelman left town, would be willing to move Cousins, preferably in exchange for a dependable veteran of quality or two who could bring some instant improvement to a franchise stuck in lottery land and still plagued by an uncertain future in terms of where this team will be calling home in the long term….

Front-office sources say that Boston and Detroit, just to name two teams, have let it be known that they are highly interested if and when Cousins does become available. Rest assured there will be more.

It takes a lot for me to say this, but the Maloofs are right. They shouldn’t trade him.

Moving Cousins for a veteran sounds like Petrie seeing his job in potential danger (who knows with this ownership) and looking to get wins in the short term at the sake of the smart long-term move.

At the end of the day talent wins in this league and Cousins has tons of it. He’s just starting to realize that talent (and shouldn’t be taking one more shot a game from beyond 16 feet than he did last season — get back closer to the rim). No doubt his unfiltered ego and passion can make him hard to deal with, but he’s too good to just give up on. What the Kings need is a stabilizing influence in the  organization and the locker room to try and bring him around. Problem is, with the Maloofs ownership looking to move the team if they can find a way out of Sacramento (or eventually selling the team) it’s hard to expect stabilization from anywhere. Smart seemed to provide it for Cousins, but Smart’s rotations have led to a lot of head scratching in the locker room.

Then there is Cousins’ new agent Dan Fegan, who could try to push Cousins out of Sacramento (and who doesn’t have a good history with Petrie). The situation has the potential to get ugly and force the Kings hand.

I can see why the Celtics want him — they have the kind of locker room that can keep Cousins in check, and if you pair Cousins and Rajon Rondo you are seriously competitive for the next five years at least.

Detroit… they already have Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. Cousins should be better than either of them but maybe they think they can make a swap of young bigs. Still, bigs is not the Pistons area of most need.

If Cousins does go on the block, about 29 teams will call. But the Maloofs are right here to hold on to him for now.