Hoops Rumors Community Shootaround 8/17/15

The DeMarcus Cousins saga has been a constant source of news, rumors and innuendo throughout the offseason. The mercurial Kings center is certainly one of the most talented players in the league and, at 25, is just entering the prime years of his career. He’s also locked up contractually through the 2017/18 season.

That hasn’t slowed down the rumor mill that the Kings will deal Cousins well before his contract expires. Bleacher Report’s Howard Beck fueled the fire today by saying that most of the people within the organization want the franchise to trade him away (video link), prompting Cousins, president of basketball operations Vlade Divac and owner Vivek Ranadive to suggest on Twitter Monday that the report was nonsense. Beck added in his video report that coach George Karl would still like to see the team deal Cousins, even though Karl has said otherwise.

Cousins recently met with Karl and later said that they were on the same page. That meeting came after a brief encounter between Cousins and the coach at summer league that was reportedly their first interaction for a period of months. Cousins had tweeted snake and grass emojis shortly after a report surfaced indicating that Karl had actively attempted to have him traded.

Karl’s reported desire to get rid of Cousins upset Ranadive to the point that he considered firing the coach, and a conflicting narrative exists about whether the Kings reached out to John Calipari as a potential replacement.

The Lakers were reportedly in talks to acquire Cousins around draft time. And while Cousins’ personality may rub some people the wrong way, there would undoubtedly be strong interest around the league in his services if the Kings decided to shop him.

Therefore, our question of the day is this: Do you believe DeMarcus Cousins will remain with the Kings throughout the upcoming season? If not, when do you think he will be traded?

Take to the comments section below to sound off with your thoughts and opinions. We look forward to what you have to say.

Note: Since these Shootarounds are meant to be guided by you the reader, we certainly welcome your input on the topics we present. If there is something you’d like to see pop up here for a discussion, shoot us a message at hoopsrumorsmailbag@gmail.com.

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