NBA Trade Rumors: DeMarcus Cousins Staying With Kings After Fight Involving Matt Barnes?

The latest NBA trade rumors discuss the ongoing saga of big man DeMarcus Cousins and the trouble with him being traded. The Sacramento Kings star has been mentioned quite often amongst speculation that he’ll be moved to a new team ahead of the trade deadline. However, there’s been some recent indication that Cousins may not be going anywhere, depending on his team’s success. Right now, Sacramento is out of the playoff picture, although there is still three-quarters of the 2016-17 NBA season left. Will Cousins remain part of his franchise after a recent nightclub fight went down that also involved one of his Kings’ teammates?

According to Sportsrageous, a recent Basketball Insiders Podcast featured Chris Broussard as he discussed a variety of topics, including the NBA MVP race and Cousins’ situation in Sacramento. Broussard said he had recent talks with insiders about how DeMarcus and the Kings franchise are looking at the possibility of a trade. It appears like many other NBA stars, Cousins wants to be involved in the hunt for a championship.

Broussard discussed Cousins’ potentially being traded ahead of February’s deadline and what could prevent it from happening.

“The last time I talked to people about (DeMarcus Cousins), which was last week, what I was being told is that the Kings want to keep him into the trade deadline or close to the trade deadline and see where they are as a team.

“If they are competing and in the playoff hunt, what I’m told is they would like to keep him.”

A number of DeMarcus Cousins trade rumors have popped up over the past several months which have him being sent to just about every imaginable team from the Boston Celtics to the Los Angeles Lakers. However, one would have to think that Cousins is in search of a top contender. As it stands, there’s really just a handful of teams that are considered championship contenders in the league. Those include the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, and of course, the reigning champion, Cleveland Cavaliers. It would be tough to see any of these teams being able to find a way to bring Cousins onto their roster at this point.

Currently, the Sacramento Kings are 7-13 and at the No. 11 spot in the always competitive Western Conference. While the team could go on a hot winning streak, there seems to be a lot of struggles going on with the way this team is set up right now. Rudy Gay is among other star players looking for an exit, and they’re still trying to get their younger talent to mesh under their new head coach, Dave Joerger. Early indications are that the Kings are headed for a draft pick rather than a playoff spot.

Right now, the NBADraft.net website projects Sacramento with the No. 8 pick taking six-foot-five guard Frank Nitilikina from France. While he could step into the lineup and instantly make them great, there have been several examples of international players who are drafted and don’t participate on the team in the first season or so after their selection.

As for teams that might want to bring Cousins to their roster, there’s a few that seem to be mentioned a lot recently. The Boston Celtics are a team that’s within contention in the Eastern Conference and may be looking to add more pieces to their puzzle. According to Hoops Hype, while Boston has assets to help get Cousins, there’s also the rumors about DeMarcus and his former Kentucky teammate John Wall reuniting to play together again.

While Cousins may want to get out of Sacramento and the Kings probably want to bring some value in exchange for him, a recent incident could have hurt his trade value. On Monday, Cousins and teammate Matt Barnes got involved in a bar fight in New York ahead of their game against the Knicks. According to TMZ, the fight happened on early Monday morning and involve Barnes allegedly assaulting two women and a man inside the nightclub. It was also alleged that Cousins got involved and punched a man to give his teammate an assist, as he bragged about it on video after the incident.

With Cousins getting involved in this recent incident and then bragging about it, it’s going to make a lot of teams think twice about adding him to their franchise. Based on that along with a subpar record, it seems Cousins could be in for another unsuccessful season with the Kings unless management can find a way to deal him, or somehow Sacramento starts to surge in the standings.

[Featured Image by Michael Reaves/Getty Images]