Opinion: Enough With DeMarcus Cousins! Unload Him!

Before the Sacramento Kings—the team, the fans, the management, and the new Golden 1 Center–sink into the Sacramento Delta, DeMarcus Cousins has to go. It’s time for the Kings to move on.

Will trading Cousins jar him into confronting himself? Will a move to another city, coach, and team encourage him to finally confront the demons that haunt him? Only time will tell.

In 2010, the Kings drafted Cousins—against the advice of many—and took a chance that he would mature. Although he has shown signs of maturity since his rookie season, it has not been close to ideal.

For seven years, in my opinion, DeMarcus Cousins has vilified referees, gone on locker room rants, led the league in technical fouls, gotten two coaches (Paul Westphal and George Karl) fired, and—lately—has started to tell the press which is allowable—by his standards—to be printed.

In the short run, a trade would allow the Kings to unload a problem player and start the long road of a rebuild. In the long term, Cousins will have a chance to save his professional career and become the man that the fans, his family, and his teammates can be proud of.

What could the Kings get in return for the man with the greatest talent at the center position in this year’s NBA? Less and less by the day is this writer’s guess.

It is now time that the Kings give up hoping DeMarcus matures, cut their losses, and go about building a post-Cousins team. This choice will be painful for the fans and management alike. But it may be—so long as DeMarcus refuses to solve the turmoil that dwells within him—the only course available to end the Kings’ recurring agonies.