Welcome to theScore's 2016-17 NBA preview, where you'll find comprehensive coverage of all 30 teams and storylines to watch this season.
Nevermind that the Sacramento Kings have shuffled through six coaches, three general managers, and two owners during DeMarcus Cousins' six seasons with the team.
Let's just focus on right now, which sees the Kings in their all-too familiar spot of mediocrity.
It's not even the preseason, and controversies are already starting to crop up, starting with Rudy Gay, the Kings' second-best player. Anyone who has come across the 30-year-old forward can attest to Gay's professionalism, but having signed with the Kings under different pretenses in 2014, he now wants out. Gay went public with his displeasure earlier this summer, and followed up with the full-court press by declining his 2017-18 player option.
Then there's the issue at point guard. After moving heaven and earth to create cap room for Rajon Rondo last summer, the Kings are back at square one with nobody to run the team. Darren Collison, a career backup, is slated to start, but he might face suspension after pleading guilty to domestic battery. Past that, it's Garrett Temple (a backup shooting guard), Ty Lawson (one of the worst players in the league last season), and Jordan Farmar (a journeyman). Rondo was no great shakes last year, but at least he was competent. The Kings could badly use some competency right about now.
There are also major redundancies in the frontcourt. The Kings have four backup centers behind Cousins, and a handful of tweener forwards who should really only play power forward. New head coach Dave Joerger comes from the Memphis Grizzlies who make their bones on playing through their bigs, but even he will struggle to sort out this mess. Joerger will also have to integrate a new starting shooting guard, and potentially a new small forward if Gay gets moved.
This all circles back to Cousins, the disgruntled face of a flailing franchise that continues to shuffle deck chairs on a sinking ship headed for mediocrity. Cousins is no captain, and he's proven incapable of single-handedly keeping the franchise afloat, but it's not his fault that he's been stuck on this broken ride.
And with the way things are going, he might not have to for much longer.
Moving Cousins is the nuclear option. After missing the playoffs for a decade, the Kings can't possibly take a step back.
But what choice does Sacramento even have? Cousins' contract will expire in 2018 - have the Kings ever given him a reason to re-sign? Cousins has stayed loyal to the franchise in lieu of abject dysfunction, but he'll be 28 once he signs his next deal. He can't afford to keep wasting his prime years.
For the time being, Sacramento still holds all the cards. Star players like Cousins tend to retain their value regardless of the years left on their deal. There's no rush, since any team trading for Cousins would also inherit his Bird Rights, therefore giving that team a leg up in terms of re-signing him.
That means Sacramento can wait to see how this year plays out before deciding to move Cousins next summer. That gives the Kings a tiny window to impress their star.
If they find a stable solution at point guard - perhaps by swapping out the disgruntled Gay - the Kings could perhaps top out as a low-seeded playoff team in the West. Should Joerger also manage to gain the trust of Cousins, that would make for a home run of a campaign.
That sets the Kings up for the following summer, when Sacramento could create over $60 million in cap room. The dream scenario would see them grab two max-level players to give Cousins the true No. 2 and No. 3 options that he never had - save for Gay's career year in 2015 (but what major free agent signed in Sacramento over the last decade?). The more realistic outcome might see Vlade Divac split the cash between three or four solid players to bolster the team's depth.
This is the road map to potentially retaining Cousins. As always with the Kings, it will take a few leaps of faith in order to follow that path.
However implausible, however uncertain, this is the hand Sacramento dealt itself. Cousins played under six coaches and three general managers that took the team in a dozen different directions as they tried to build around their man in the middle. And even now, six years into their unhappy marriage, the Kings are still stuck at square one, hoping to MacGyver their way to a stable foundation that should have been set years ago.
Sacramento's latest plan better pan out, because this is their last shot with Boogie.
