Latest On DeMarcus Cousins

Speculation about the future of DeMarcus Cousins is mounting after yesterday's news that the Kings have suspended him indefinitely following his run-in Friday night with Kings coach Keith Smart. The Kings are becoming increasingly concerned about Cousins, as Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee tweets, and the team reportedly isn't completely closed off to the idea of trading him. Teammates feel as though Cousins has not matured into the better communicator he has talked about becoming, Jones reports, adding that many of them have passed the ball to Cousins during games simply because they haven't wanted to endure one of his tirades if he feels he's being overlooked.

Still, GM Geoff Petrie maintains the Kings are committed to Cousins, and as the Bee's Ailene Voisin writes, the Kings don't want to trade Cousins.

"It's not something that just showed up yesterday, last year or two years ago or five years ago," the GM said. "But he's our player so we want to work with him to get past this so he can be what everyone sees as possible."

If the Kings do shop Cousins at some point, Marc Stein of ESPN.com believes the Heat could have interest, given team president Pat Riley's prior success with troubled players (Twitter link). Yet Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel doesn't think the Heat would break up their championship core to acquire Cousins, and figures the Kings would want young players and draft picks, assets Miami doesn't possess. Yesterday, more Hoops Rumors readers identified the Celtics as the best potential suitor for Cousins than any other team. Though Cousins could certainly shore up Boston's rebounding, and the Celtics' veterans might be able to keep him in line, I'm not sure C's team president Danny Ainge is prepared to rip up his squad's foundation, despite Boston's slow start.

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