Yahoo! Sports reported Monday night that Karl is pushing the Kings to trade Cousins.

Karl has been given the power to make draft picks and engineer some trades, the source told Broussard, but Karl, so far, has not been allowed to move Cousins.

When the Kings hired Karl in the spring, there was pushback from Cousins' camp, and the Sacramento Bee reported that Cousins and Karl haven't spoken for months. But Karl's comments in mid-April that everyone is tradable seemed to confirm what many believe, that Karl wants to move Cousins.

Ranadive told USA Today Sports on Monday that the team has "zero interest" in trading Cousins. "I have no idea where that's coming from," Ranadive said of the reports. "But if you like, you should talk to [Kings vice president of basketball and franchise operations] Vlade [Divac], because I know Vlade feels exactly the same way. And I'm deferring to Vlade on everything. We have no interest in moving him. From my perspective, it's really simple: We feel that he's a one-of-a-kind player, and we have a group of players right now and we're going to build on it."

Earlier this week, Divac told the Sacramento Bee that a Cousins trade "was not happening, but I would love to do something, a smaller move, before the draft."

As ESPN's Stein reported Monday, the Lakers have been the most determined suitor for Cousins, despite the Kings' reluctance to move their big man. In addition to the Lakers, the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics and Denver Nuggets also have interest in Cousins.

A source told Broussard that Karl is interested in Nuggets point guard Ty Lawson. If the Kings owner eventually allows Karl to trade Cousins, Denver also might be a strong suitor for Cousins, though a source told Broussard that Karl would consider trading forward Rudy Gay for Lawson.

A feud has erupted between DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings, and it's getting ugly

In one of the more surprising NBA stories of the summer, tensions between DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings appear to be escalating.

On Monday there was a report that the Los Angeles Lakers wanted to trade for Cousins. The NBA world generally scoffed at the rumor (who wouldn't want to trade for a 24-year-old All-Star center?), and it came after Kings vice president Vlade Divac told the Sacramento Bee, "That is not happening," when asked about a potential trade on Sunday.

But late Monday night Yahoo's Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a bombshell report that suggests the Kings are closer to trading Cousins than we realize. According to Wojnarowski, it is "increasingly unlikely this coach-star partnership can peacefully co-exist next season."

Coach George Karl wants to trade Cousins, Wojnarowski reports, and has been trying to build a coalition of front office people to convince owner Vivek Ranadive to sign off on it. To make matters worse, Cousins has gotten wind of Karl's plan to trade him through his teammates.

Jason Jones of the Bee reports that Karl and Cousins haven't talked to teach other since April.

After the Woj report got published, Cousins posted an emoji-based tweet depicting a snake in the grass — an apparent reference to the Karl scheming described in the Yahoo report:

Tweet was deleted or there was problem with the URL:

https://twitter.com/boogiecousins/status/613225835365949440

As Tom Ziller of SB Nation points out, star players seemingly calling Karl a snake on Twitter after having a falling out with him is a weirdly persistent trope in the NBA. Carmelo Anthony and Andre Iguodala, both of whom left Karl-coached Nuggets teams under less-than-cordial circumstances, did it before Cousins:

While it's surprising that things are blowing up like this in public, there were signs that Cousins was unhappy during the season. After starting 5-1, the Kings lost eight of their next 10 games while Cousins battled viral meningitis. Ranadive then fired coach Mike Malone out of nowhere. Cousins found out about the firing on Twitter and didn't seem happy about it.

After hiring Karl the Kings continued to struggle. In March, Cousins told Michael Lee of the Washington Post about the season, "It’s been a circus, man. It’s been a complete circus."

All things considered, it'd still be a shock if they traded Cousins. Not only is he an All-Star who hasn't hit age 25 yet, he's on one of the best contracts in the league. He's only one year into a four-year, $62 million contract extension. In 2016-17 and 2017-18, when the salary cap will explode because of the league's new TV deal, Cousins will only be making around $16 million per year — well below what he'd make if he got a max contract on the open market as a free agent.

If it's a choice between the best young center in the NBA and a journeyman coach with a seeming inability to coach star players, it's hard to imagine them picking Karl.

The Wojinarowski article from last night
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--george-karl-pushing-for-kings-to-trade-demarcus-cousins-051748948.html

Uptown wrote:Cant see Cousins and Karl co-existing next year. Something will have to give. I thought the Kings made a major mistake firing Malone so prematurely. Lastly, the media for the most part will probably side with Karl and kill Cousins for his pass transgressions, but Karl has alienated many players as a coach....Was never a fan of his...

couldn't agree more with you about karl. he's done this time and time again. this is all bad for the kings though because when this combined with cousins attitude issues in the past, now they'll have to receive pennies on the dollar for cousins.

franco12 wrote:Am I the only one who thinks if the lakers are offering pick 2 for Cousins, the kings should take it without thinking too hard?

Cousins just seems like a malcontent prima donna.

Give me Okafor or Russel and a reset on my cap and I think I'd be happy!

yellowboy90 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

franco12 wrote:Am I the only one who thinks if the lakers are offering pick 2 for Cousins, the kings should take it without thinking too hard?

Cousins just seems like a malcontent prima donna.

Give me Okafor or Russel and a reset on my cap and I think I'd be happy!

Agreed besides the attitude issues, I'm not even sure Cousins has that big an impact on the W-L column. (The advanced stats are all over the place for him.) I'd rather have Okafor for a quarter the price.

This is not about Cousins it's about Karl. Also, I thought the Kings looked good last year and won games when he was playing.

Would you take Cousins for the #4 pick? Rookie contracts are great in all but Derrick Williams, Thomas Robinson, and Anthony bennents are always there.

Cousins is actually on a great contract as the cap explodes

Bonn1997 wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

franco12 wrote:Am I the only one who thinks if the lakers are offering pick 2 for Cousins, the kings should take it without thinking too hard?

Cousins just seems like a malcontent prima donna.

Give me Okafor or Russel and a reset on my cap and I think I'd be happy!

Agreed besides the attitude issues, I'm not even sure Cousins has that big an impact on the W-L column. (The advanced stats are all over the place for him.) I'd rather have Okafor for a quarter the price.

This is not about Cousins it's about Karl. Also, I thought the Kings looked good last year and won games when he was playing.

Would you take Cousins for the #4 pick? Rookie contracts are great in all but Derrick Williams, Thomas Robinson, and Anthony bennents are always there.

Cousins is actually on a great contract as the cap explodes

It's a tough call but I'd rather have Winslow and Monroe.

holfresh wrote:

mreinman wrote:

holfresh wrote:Cousins is the best center in the NBA..

wins don't count? I thought that you judged kevin Love on the Minny records.

Wins absolutely counts..But look at the teams around KLove versus Cousins...Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer, Rubio, Pekovic, Barea....It's been Cousins and Tyreke Evans for years..

ah ... so love had a good team around him in minny. Those guys you mentioned are really great. and the team did pretty awesome without him.

again, a terribly inconsistent double standard.

holfresh wrote:

mreinman wrote:

holfresh wrote:

mreinman wrote:

holfresh wrote:Cousins is the best center in the NBA..

wins don't count? I thought that you judged kevin Love on the Minny records.

Wins absolutely counts..But look at the teams around KLove versus Cousins...Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer, Rubio, Pekovic, Barea....It's been Cousins and Tyreke Evans for years..

ah ... so love had a good team around him in minny. Those guys you mentioned are really great. and the team did pretty awesome without him.

again, a terribly inconsistent double standard.

Do you think Love is a better player than Cousins?

I did not make that claim.

holfresh wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

yellowboy90 wrote:

Bonn1997 wrote:

franco12 wrote:Am I the only one who thinks if the lakers are offering pick 2 for Cousins, the kings should take it without thinking too hard?

Cousins just seems like a malcontent prima donna.

Give me Okafor or Russel and a reset on my cap and I think I'd be happy!

Agreed besides the attitude issues, I'm not even sure Cousins has that big an impact on the W-L column. (The advanced stats are all over the place for him.) I'd rather have Okafor for a quarter the price.

This is not about Cousins it's about Karl. Also, I thought the Kings looked good last year and won games when he was playing.

Would you take Cousins for the #4 pick? Rookie contracts are great in all but Derrick Williams, Thomas Robinson, and Anthony bennents are always there.

Cousins is actually on a great contract as the cap explodes

It's a tough call but I'd rather have Winslow and Monroe.

Melo and Cousins equals contenders..

holfresh wrote:

mreinman wrote:

holfresh wrote:

mreinman wrote:

holfresh wrote:

mreinman wrote:

holfresh wrote:Cousins is the best center in the NBA..

wins don't count? I thought that you judged kevin Love on the Minny records.

Wins absolutely counts..But look at the teams around KLove versus Cousins...Kevin Martin, Corey Brewer, Rubio, Pekovic, Barea....It's been Cousins and Tyreke Evans for years..

ah ... so love had a good team around him in minny. Those guys you mentioned are really great. and the team did pretty awesome without him.

again, a terribly inconsistent double standard.

Do you think Love is a better player than Cousins?

I did not make that claim.

I didn't say you made that claim...Who is better???? and Who is the best Center in the NBA?

Cousins is far more talented but being that he is such a tool, I would take Love over him. Also, Love is more efficient. Cousins takes way too many bad shots.

Both are very good rebounders and passers.

Cousins is the better defender.

Cousins is really hard to figure out because he has a JR head (which you seem to really dig)

The best center in the league is M Gasol.