NBA Trade Rumors: Shaquille O’Neal Hints Demarcus Cousins On Trading Block

Shaquille O’Neal is hinting that the Sacramento Kings may have finally reached their boiling point with All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins and could soon be looking to deal him.

O’Neal, who holds a small ownership stake in the team, recently used his TNT halftime stage to express his innermost feelings about Cousins and the team’s ongoing 10-year nonplayoff drought, openly suggesting that he places the lion’s share of the blame for many of the team’s current struggles right at Cousins’ feet.

“In the past, he’s made a lot of mistakes,” said O’Neal.

“He’s been hot-headed. He hasn’t shown great leadership qualities yet.”

One thing that hasn’t changed is Cousins’ volatile nature. Through 11 games, he’s tied for second-most technical fouls in the league with three and was recently fined $25,000 for arguing with an official and slinging his mouthpiece into the stands. In another game, he picked in six fouls in less than a quarter of action.

It all has O’Neal predicting that management could soon be deciding to move on without their All-Star center.

“I’m hearing talk of it,” he added.

“If things don’t start to become correct, then they may be looking to go in a different direction.”

Previously, the 28-year-old Cousins, who can become a free agent after the 2018 season, has been linked to the Lakers in a deal that could involve any two from the trio of young stars D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson and Julius Randle.

Veteran forward Rudy Gay (22.3 ppg, 6.5 rebounds) is also rumored to be on the trading block for the Kings and there have also been nonstop rumblings about fourth-year swingman Ben McLemore.

Cousins is averaging a team-leading 26.6 points and 8.6 rebounds for the Kings this season, but that’s hardly resulted in the kind of early splash management was hoping would be a turnaround season.

So maddeningly inconsistent have the Kings shown themselves to be, they’ve proven capable of knocking off Eastern Conference power Toronto one night, only to fall to the rebuilding Lakers a few nights later.

And Cousins has made little secret of his growing frustration with all the dysfunction. Just last March, Vice President of Basketball Operations and GM Vlade Divas suspended him for a game after he got into a live-game confrontation with since fired veteran coach George Karl.

Even before the season started, several media outlets were reporting Cousins wanted out of Sacramento and was blaming the organization’s lack of a master plan for much of his discontent.

After the Kings traded down in last June’s NBA draft to tab Greek center Georgios Papagiannis with the No. 13 overall pick, Cousins instantly took to social media to post the words “Lord give me strength.”

Indeed, Joerger marks the team’s sixth coach since they drafted Cousins out of Kentucky six years ago, each of them seemingly with an entirely different approach to making the Kings a winner.

“I love Sacramento, I consider this home, so that’s not the problem,” Cousins recently lamented. “The losing is.”

And with the situation now showing little signs of rectifying itself anytime soon, DeMarcus Cousins days in Sacramento could finally be numbered.

Things don’t get any easier from here for the Kings, who face an upcoming five-game stretch against the Spurs (7-3), Clippers (9-1), Raptors (7-2), Thunder (6-3) and Rockets (5-4), a combined 34-13 over the first three weeks of the season.

[Featured Image by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images]