Divac feels Kings are better off after Cousins trade: 'If I'm wrong, I'll step down'
There was a great deal of risk that came with trading one of the Association's premier big men in DeMarcus Cousins, and considering the lackluster haul the Sacramento Kings received in their dealings with the New Orleans Pelicans, it's easy to see why there are so many question marks surrounding the direction the franchise is currently heading in.
Through all of the negativity and uncertainty, though, general manager Vlade Divac remains confident in his decision to ship Boogie off, and if that ends up leading to his demise in his current role somewhere down the road, then so be it.
"That’s my job, and I take responsibility. And I totally understand why some fans would be upset. They supported DeMarcus, and I like DeMarcus a lot. But I believe we are going to be in a better position in two years," Divac told the Sacramento Bee's Ailene Voisin. "I want to hear again from these same people in two years.
"If I’m right, great. If I’m wrong, I’ll step down. But if I go down, I’m going down my way."
Related - Cousins: Kings trading me was 'a coward move'
The move to the Big Easy came as a total surprise to Cousins, as he had been told by Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive that he wasn't going anywhere, with the two even consulting him over potential personnel moves to improve the roster ahead of time.
Ultimately, management felt that a fresh start was long overdue for both parties, despite seemingly telling Cousins and his agents that wasn't the case.
Related - Divac justifies trading Cousins: 'It was time for a change'
"It was a lot of things, but basically, I thought it was time to start over," Divac added. "There was a lot of bad stuff happening here the last five years, a lot of bad habits. There were always issues, many you don’t even know about. Now I believe strongly this was the right thing to do for our future. Now I have a clear vision. This city deserves better, and I want to create that. With DeMarcus’ situation, I basically was stuck.
"Maybe we're going to win a few more games than last year but probably not make the playoffs. Then where are we? Same old place. And we have that contract to deal with. If we keep DeMarcus this summer, we have to extend him, or otherwise he would be on an expiring contract that everyone would be afraid of. Teams don’t trade a lot for a player they aren’t sure will re-sign with you. And if he extended, we couldn’t sign him for an entire year anyway."
In Cousins' stead is a 24-year-old scoring guard in Buddy Hield, the expiring contract of once-former King and Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, a backup in Langston Galloway, and two draft picks. Sacramento emerged victorious in its first outing following the blockbuster trade on Thursday against the Denver Nuggets, but fell short on Saturday in a 14-point loss to the visiting Charlotte Hornets.