Cousins: 'Was very weird' to play against Kings

DeMarcus Cousins had one of his best games Friday night since joining the New Orleans Pelicans, but doing so against his former Sacramento Kings teammates had an unusual feel.

"It was very weird actually," Cousins said after his 37-point, 13-rebound effort in the Pels' 117-89 win, according to ESPN's Justin Verrier. "You practice against those guys and to actually come out against them in a game setting ... it's a very weird feeling. I'm so used to those guys being on my side."

Cousins also still counts various Kings players and staffers as his friends.

"I still communicate with those guys all the time," he said. "I don't look at it as closure. My chapter with putting on a Sacramento Kings jersey, of course that's done. I still got nothing but love for those guys. I still talk to them on a daily basis. There's no bad blood, so I don't look at it that way."

The "bad blood" may be reserved for owner Vivek Ranadive and general manager Vlade Divac. Still angry over the manner by which he was traded, Cousins likened his treatment to that of livestock.

"Come to me like a man. I'm a human being at the end of the day," he said recently. "Don't treat me like a f---ing piece of cattle."