Official Trade Thread - Part XXIX

[stevemcqueen1]

DeMarcus Cousins trade talk time after his latest scrape with George Karl.

Washington trades:

Oubre
Gortat
Nene
Satoransky
2016 first
2018 first

Sacramento trades:
Cousins
Gay

Forget about Sacramento, do we pull the trigger on that deal?

What if you switch out Oubre for Porter?

I'd worry about what adding 2 very high usage players who aren't real efficient would effect the development of Beal and Porter - who I think we want to make higher usage players who can be more efficient. I'd rather not include Gay in the deal.

I'd worry too. And I'd rather not add Gay either. In my view, he's a fairly significant negative because of his contract and the fact that we wouldn't actually want to play him very much. I was trying to gauge our tolerance for taking on bad contracts in order to deal for Cousins.

Personally, I'm torn. On the one hand, if/when he made it on to the court, I don't like what Rudy Gay would do to our style of play one bit. Otto is already a better play for us than Gay would be (assuming we didn't have to include him in the trade). And I don't like the idea of finally getting out of the yoke of Nene's bad contract only to extend the experience for potentially two more years. But on the other hand, the cap is set to jump and Gay's final year is a player option, and I think there would be a good chance he'd opt out if he wasn't playing much here, and thought he could take advantage of the cap increase. So it might just be a two year experience with Gay.

Ultimately, I'm not sure having to swap Nene for Gay stops me from making the trade. But I think swapping Otto for Oubre might.

As for the question of how Cousins fits on a roster with Wall, Beal, and Porter:

- I think Cousins's usage would decline fairly significantly, but his efficiency would increase in equal proportion
- I think Beal's usage would drop slightly from where it was the first five games and he and Cousins would lead the team in scoring by a good amount
- I think Wall's usage would stay high but most of it would come from assists rather than scoring
- I think Porter's usage would stay low, probably around 18% for the majority of his career
- I think whoever we got to play PF would be a very low usage fifth option type

And I think that our eventual PF would ideally be a nimble floor-runner that's half court offensive game would be limited to spotting up for long range jumpers. A pretty limited player, but someone that can reasonably guard both forward spots. Terrence Jones comes to mind, but we might want someone a little longer because we'd be on the small side.

Cousins can be a defensive anchor and rebounder and he's a superb outlet passer. But he is not running the floor like Gortat. Offensively, he'd be a PnR and low post scorer with the ability to pop all of the way to the three point line, plus he has some solid face up and back to basket creativity in his pocket. I think he'd be an ideal low post player to pair with Wall, Beal, and Porter offensively--we have the shooters and the facilitating PG that he needs.

[nate33]

Anyone want to lay odds on us trading next-years 1st round pick at the next trade deadline? EG will try to correct his off-season mistakes.

I'm confident that EG has the big picture in mind. He knows that our window is next season and beyond, not this year; and he knows that he must keep cap room for KD2DC. He's not giving away the pick for a half-year rental like Al Jefferson. And he's not trading the pick and filler for an over-the-hill, high cost PF like Zach Randolph because that would eliminate the cap room needed for Durant.

If EG trades next year's pick, it would probably be for a guy like Terrence Jones - somebody who is young and still has a cheap cap hold. That wouldn't be such a bad outcome. (Houston would be trading him under the pretense that they were not interested in resigning him as a RFA.)

[nate33]

Lets assume for a moment that Cousins would put up numbers here like the numbers he put up last season in Sacramento. That way we can compare those with Gortat's numbers last year. We'll adjust for minutes by just looking at what would happen every 40 minutes if we had the one guy instead of the other.

With Cousins instead of Gortat...

ball possession:
we'd have 2.5 more defensive rebounds. That's good.
we'd have .7 more offensive rebounds. That's good too.
we'd have 3.3 more turnovers. That's bad. In fact, it more than nullifies the rebounding advantage (most defensive boards one guy doesn't get go to one of his teammates). Net is that we throw away @2 possessions.
we'd have 1 more steal -- so we get back 1 of the 2 possessions we lost.
Result: slight advantage to Gortat on ball possession. Roughly speaking an extra possession is worth 1 extra point -- something like that anyway.

How about scoring:
we'd have 8 more FTA giving us 6.4 more pts. That's good.
we'd take 8.7 shots away from our other guys (that's how many more shots Cousins takes than Gortat). But, we'd only make 2.9 of those shots (that's how many more shots Cousins makes than Gortat) -- i.e. .33% on those extra shots = 5.8 points. Now, if other guys were taking those shots, some of them would be 3pointers. Assume we have an eFG% of @.47%. So we give back @2.8 of those extra points we got from Cousins FT shooting. Still...
Result: advantage Cousins to the tune of @3 points.

Net of those 2 factors, ball possession and scoring, Cousins is slightly better -- @1 point per 40 minutes. But... Cousins commits 1.6 more fouls in that same 40 minutes. Maybe he gives back his advantage by putting the other team on the line? Some of it anyway?

Then there is the rest of the baggage he brings. I don't think he's a bad guy, but I do think he has a personality that requires *a lot* of massaging, soothing, management, call it what you want. Even straight up for Gortat, there's too much risk from that stuff.

Now, of course the reaction from those who want him will be: "he'll be different for us." No.

He'll be much younger for us than Gortat.

And I think history shows that many guys with these types of bad attitudes tend to get better as they age and mature. Cousins reminds me of guys like Rasheed Wallace or Zach Randolph. He has misdirected anger and poor emotional control, but that's better than being a guy like Andrew Bynum or Larry Sanders who simply lack the passion to care about basketball. Wallace and Randolph matured into very good, very reliable NBA players.

Also, winning tends to cure things. Cousins on a team with Wall and hopefully Durant is sure to do some winning in the East.

I'm not dismissing your concerns. I agree that the numbers suggest that Cousins is a bit overrated. But if he can be had for just Gortat + Beal + future picks (preferably not the 2016), then it's worth considering. If nothing else, Beal is also a bit overrated.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

DeMarcus Cousins trade talk time after his latest scrape with George Karl.

Washington trades:

Oubre
Gortat
Nene
Satoransky
2016 first
2018 first

Sacramento trades:
Cousins
Gay

Forget about Sacramento, do we pull the trigger on that deal?

What if you switch out Oubre for Porter?

This is way too much for Boogie, and Rudy Gay is an albatross contract IMO.

Nene, Humphries, two firsts. Take it or leave it.

Keep Oubre and Santoransky.

If anything, leverage Beal and Gortat plus just one first for Cousins. I don't love this idea myself.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Lets assume for a moment that Cousins would put up numbers here like the numbers he put up last season in Sacramento. That way we can compare those with Gortat's numbers last year. We'll adjust for minutes by just looking at what would happen every 40 minutes if we had the one guy instead of the other.

With Cousins instead of Gortat...

ball possession:
we'd have 2.5 more defensive rebounds. That's good.
we'd have .7 more offensive rebounds. That's good too.
we'd have 3.3 more turnovers. That's bad. In fact, it more than nullifies the rebounding advantage (most defensive boards one guy doesn't get go to one of his teammates). Net is that we throw away @2 possessions.
we'd have 1 more steal -- so we get back 1 of the 2 possessions we lost.
Result: slight advantage to Gortat on ball possession. Roughly speaking an extra possession is worth 1 extra point -- something like that anyway.

How about scoring:
we'd have 8 more FTA giving us 6.4 more pts. That's good.
we'd take 8.7 shots away from our other guys (that's how many more shots Cousins takes than Gortat). But, we'd only make 2.9 of those shots (that's how many more shots Cousins makes than Gortat) -- i.e. .33% on those extra shots = 5.8 points. Now, if other guys were taking those shots, some of them would be 3pointers. Assume we have an eFG% of @.47%. So we give back @2.8 of those extra points we got from Cousins FT shooting. Still...
Result: advantage Cousins to the tune of @3 points.

Net of those 2 factors, ball possession and scoring, Cousins is slightly better -- @1 point per 40 minutes. But... Cousins commits 1.6 more fouls in that same 40 minutes. Maybe he gives back his advantage by putting the other team on the line? Some of it anyway?

Then there is the rest of the baggage he brings. I don't think he's a bad guy, but I do think he has a personality that requires *a lot* of massaging, soothing, management, call it what you want. Even straight up for Gortat, there's too much risk from that stuff.

Now, of course the reaction from those who want him will be: "he'll be different for us." No.

He'll be much younger for us than Gortat.

And I think history shows that many guys with these types of bad attitudes tend to get better as they age and mature. Cousins reminds me of guys like Rasheed Wallace or Zach Randolph. He has misdirected anger and poor emotional control, but that's better than being a guy like Andrew Bynum or Larry Sanders who simply lack the passion to care about basketball. Wallace and Randolph matured into very good, very reliable NBA players.

Also, winning tends to cure things. Cousins on a team with Wall and hopefully Durant is sure to do some winning in the East.

I'm not dismissing your concerns. I agree that the numbers suggest that Cousins is a bit overrated. But if he can be had for just Gortat + Beal + future picks (preferably not the 2016), then it's worth considering. If nothing else, Beal is also a bit overrated.

Agreed.

[stevemcqueen1]

Now, of course the reaction from those who want him will be: "he'll be different for us." No.

Woah, we're really far apart on our perception of Cousins's ability and value. I suspect that this is going to end up being an "agree to disagree" conclusion, but you deserve a response from me. The methodology you use to conclude that Cousins isn't that much more valuable than Gortat is suspect to me. We're engaging in something speculative, and unfortunately, I can't really describe my methodology to determine Cousins's value in concrete metrics like you do. Mine is based on a gestalt that basically just came from watching and following Cousins and trying to form a picture of his effective skill set. I realize that's unsatisfying and isn't going to convince you in an argument--you have to take the judgement of my eye on faith. I can't link videos of all the moments that demonstrate particular skills that I've seen that actually could convince you. Nevertheless, this sort of gestalt method thing I get from watching is how I interpret the game to develop as accurate and complete a picture of it as possible.

If I were to spitball a bottom line metric value to illustrate the difference between Cousins and Gortat, I'd say that, if everything were to go right in a season for Gortat, he's about a 7 win share player for us. Same condition for Cousins, I think he could be a 13 win share player for us. I think Cousins has the potential to be extremely valuable. Explaining my reasons for that would require typing out a little scouting report on Cousins that would draw comparisons to other players who were successful. But I think that would be very boring and tedious for you and everyone else. But I don't know, if you want me to, I can type it out later when I have more time.

Anyway, I wanted to respond to the part of your post I quoted. Why wouldn't you assume he'd be a different player for us than Sacramento? Also, why assume that he wouldn't change the roles/production of our current players? Cousins's role would be dramatically different here. And he's a star player that would be a major acquisition. He'd change the roles of all of our current players too.

If you put Cousins on a team with John Wall, you change Cousins's role from creator to finisher on offense. That's a big difference. Imagine if you did the inverse for Gortat and moved him from finisher to creator in Sacramento--his effectiveness would plummet. I think DeMarcus Cousins the finisher is awesome. DeMarcus Cousins the playmaker is not. Our team construction is uniquely suited to putting Cousins in his most effective role. We can put good three ball shooters at three different spots on the floor with him, which Sacramento couldn't do even when they were playing well under Mike Malone. And we have one of the best playmaking PGs in the league, who also happens to be Cousins's best friend and college PG, with whom Cousins has phenomenal on-court chemistry. And I think he'd change the effectiveness and roles of Wall/Otto/Beal too and have a net positive effect on their performance because of his ability to command double teams. Shooters can really thrive with a low post big that demands that kind of attention. Think Dwight Howard and his supporting cast of shooters in Orlando. And it really benefits a pass first PG when he can throw it to a big and get easy buckets out of it. Think Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in LA.

As for the personality flags, I agree that it's a risk and cause for caution. I agree he has a difficult personality and you need to be thick-skinned to deal with him. My take is that he's moody and introverted. Slow to trust, but very loyal once he does. I don't think he necessarily needs massaging, because I think he can actually thrive on hard coaching that keeps him accountable. But he does need a coach that he trusts. When he's had that with Calipari and Malone, he's been awesome.

Now because Cousins is moody and introverted, I wouldn't want him to be the most important voice in my locker room. He needs a well defined leadership hierarchy within the locker room. That's why I wouldn't want to pull up the pieces of the foundation to trade for him. But if you add him to a core that already has Wall, Beal, and Porter, I think that puts Cousins in a good place.

Also, I don't necessarily hold it against him that he doesn't trust George Karl and they can't get along. Karl has a sketchy reputation with his former players that suggest he's dictatorial and underhanded. Reminds me of Mike Shanahan. When good guys of the league like Andre Iggoudala have serious problems with you, that's a flag for me.

Bottom line, I agree with you that trading for him is a huge risk. But I think I'd do it because I see the potential reward as huge.

[Dat2U]

It's funny the main guy that said we should have drafted Cousins instead of Wall won't trade anything of value for Cousins. CCJ you may not want to offer too much for Cousins but that doesn't matter competing with 29 other teams for his services. IMO Beal & Gortat is the start of the package that gets us in the conversation and we'll need to add picks & players from there.

[Dark Faze]

I'm not even thinking about Cousins when we could have made relatively minor trades and had a backcourt of IT/Clarkson.

[payitforward]

...He'll be much younger for us than Gortat.

And I think history shows that many guys with these types of bad attitudes tend to get better as they age and mature. Cousins reminds me of guys like Rasheed Wallace or Zach Randolph. He has misdirected anger and poor emotional control, but that's better than being a guy like Andrew Bynum or Larry Sanders who simply lack the passion to care about basketball. Wallace and Randolph matured into very good, very reliable NBA players.

Also, winning tends to cure things. Cousins on a team with Wall and hopefully Durant is sure to do some winning in the East.

I'm not dismissing your concerns. I agree that the numbers suggest that Cousins is a bit overrated. But if he can be had for just Gortat + Beal + future picks (preferably not the 2016), then it's worth considering. If nothing else, Beal is also a bit overrated.

He's younger, yes. He's gifted -- definitely! And passionate for sure. But, I don't think "history shows" what you say. That is, we tend to look for and remember the confirming cases, of which of course there are some. But, there's also JaVale McGee and a long list behind that name.

Plus, if we have to assume Durant to justify Cousins, IMO we're in fantasy-land. Just can't go there, personally. Way too many moving parts. YMMV.

[nate33]

...He'll be much younger for us than Gortat.

And I think history shows that many guys with these types of bad attitudes tend to get better as they age and mature. Cousins reminds me of guys like Rasheed Wallace or Zach Randolph. He has misdirected anger and poor emotional control, but that's better than being a guy like Andrew Bynum or Larry Sanders who simply lack the passion to care about basketball. Wallace and Randolph matured into very good, very reliable NBA players.

Also, winning tends to cure things. Cousins on a team with Wall and hopefully Durant is sure to do some winning in the East.

I'm not dismissing your concerns. I agree that the numbers suggest that Cousins is a bit overrated. But if he can be had for just Gortat + Beal + future picks (preferably not the 2016), then it's worth considering. If nothing else, Beal is also a bit overrated.

He's younger, yes. He's gifted -- definitely! And passionate for sure. But, I don't think "history shows" what you say. That is, we tend to look for and remember the confirming cases, of which of course there are some. But, there's also JaVale McGee and a long list behind that name.

Plus, if we have to assume Durant to justify Cousins, IMO we're in fantasy-land. Just can't go there, personally. Way too many moving parts. YMMV.

I don't think Cousins falls under the JaVale McGee paradigm. McGee is more like Bynum, or Sanders, or Nick Young. He plays basketball because he's tall and athletic, not because he has any interest or passion for the game. Those guys that lack passion never get serious about improving their technique; they never get serious about studying film, or learning why the little things matter. These types of guys really never improve past their second season or so.

Cousins doesn't have that problem. His problem is anger and misplaced aggression (at refs, at teammates, instead of at the other team) and an inability to defer to teammates or coaches if he doesn't respect them. But Cousins enjoys basketball, works on his game, and cares about winning. The anger management will definitely improve with maturity as it does with everyone. The respect for teammates and coaches will be better alongside Wall and on a winning team, but it's probably going to be a recurring issue that will continue to rear its head from time to time.

I'm not saying there won't be bumps in the road in his development, but I'm really confident that he's going to be better in 3 years than he is now.

[payitforward]

Now, of course the reaction from those who want him will be: "he'll be different for us." No.

Woah, we're really far apart on our perception of Cousins's ability and value. I suspect that this is going to end up being an "agree to disagree" conclusion,...

Which is ok w/ me; we'll get a chance to see what goes down and the results.

Why wouldn't you assume he'd be a different player for us than Sacramento? Also, why assume that he wouldn't change the roles/production of our current players? ...If you put Cousins on a team with John Wall, you change Cousins's role from creator to finisher on offense. ...And we have one of the best playmaking PGs in the league, who also happens to be Cousins's best friend and college PG, with whom Cousins has phenomenal on-court chemistry. ...the personality flags, I agree ...cause for caution. I agree he has a difficult personality and you need to be thick-skinned to deal with him. My take is that he's moody and introverted. Slow to trust, but very loyal once he does. I don't think he necessarily needs massaging, because I think he can actually thrive on hard coaching that keeps him accountable. But he does need a coach that he trusts. When he's had that with Calipari and Malone, he's been awesome.

Now because Cousins is moody and introverted, I wouldn't want him to be the most important voice in my locker room. He needs a well defined leadership hierarchy within the locker room. ... trading for him is a huge risk. But ...I see the potential reward as huge.

1. There are *a lot* fewer cases of guys becoming "a different player" when they move teams than the opposite. A lot more.

2. Changing "from creator to finisher." Cousins seems to *like* his role. He wants the ball in his hands. He's been playing that way since day 1 in the league. Now he seems to want to take 3s. Nor do I have much experience that people play a sport better because they are playing it with a friend.

3. Cousins the person -- In honesty, speculating about the personality of someone, what he needs, whether he might thrive on one thing or another -- these things are hard when we talk about someone we know personally! What you or I imagine about Cousins as a person is just a kind of fantasy -- or maybe better to say it's just a description of what we *want* to be the case.

But, hey, like you say: agree to disagree. No worries.

[payitforward]

I need to shut up about Cousins. I've made the points I wanted to make, and I certainly don't want anyone to think that I have something against the guy -- the opposite, in fact. I think he's an interesting person and an unbelievably gifted player. I wish him every success, and if he does come here I'll root for him like crazy.

[stevemcqueen1]

It's funny the main guy that said we should have drafted Cousins instead of Wall won't trade anything of value for Cousins. CCJ you may not want to offer too much for Cousins but that doesn't matter competing with 29 other teams for his services. IMO Beal & Gortat is the start of the package that gets us in the conversation and we'll need to add picks & players from there.

I don't know, I don't think it's a 29 team market. Actually, I'm not sure how much of a market there is for Cousins. Every team would tell you they'd love to have him, but I doubt many would pony up a whole lot to get him. He's a big risk and Sacramento's leverage isn't great because they are such a publicly dysfunctional mess. But these things usually come down to a competition between a small number of teams and the original team is usually lucky to get 50 cents on the dollar for trading a disgruntled star. I compare the situation to Kevin Love's, and Cleveland got Love for what would amount to less than trading Beal, much less than Beal + Gortat + other stuff. Beal is an All Star caliber player right now, Wiggins was years away from that level when he got dealt. And I don't think Cousins is really that close to Kevin Love when Love was traded--coming off a 14 win share season. Even right now I think Love has a lot more value than Cousins.

Cousins can also influence where he gets traded by scaring teams out of the market like Kevin Love did. If he really wants to come to D.C., and we were willing to trade for him, he could probably make it happen.

But I actually don't think the Wizards are looking to trade for Cousins. The FO is completely honed in on Durant and I don't think they are going to abandon the plan to get him until after he makes his decision in free agency this summer.

[pcbothwel]

Agreed Steve. I think we have a strong list of possible outcomes.
1) Durant
2A) Whiteside + another 4 like Jones
2B) Trade for Cousins
3) Horford + trade Gortat (Possibly combine with Ibaka option)
4) Trade for Ibaka (With a resigned KD, they cant afford Russ and Ibaka. Their Front court is deep enough)
5) Stretch 4 and then fo to 2017 FA Class which looks good

[Induveca]

I wouldn't mind acquiring Joe Johnson, insane salary but expiring I believe? He's the best readily available fit for a stretch 4 and could play a Pierce/leadership role we desperately need.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

It's funny the main guy that said we should have drafted Cousins instead of Wall won't trade anything of value for Cousins. CCJ you may not want to offer too much for Cousins but that doesn't matter competing with 29 other teams for his services. IMO Beal & Gortat is the start of the package that gets us in the conversation and we'll need to add picks & players from there.

I don't know, I don't think it's a 29 team market. Actually, I'm not sure how much of a market there is for Cousins. Every team would tell you they'd love to have him, but I doubt many would pony up a whole lot to get him. He's a big risk and Sacramento's leverage isn't great because they are such a publicly dysfunctional mess. But these things usually come down to a competition between a small number of teams and the original team is usually lucky to get 50 cents on the dollar for trading a disgruntled star. I compare the situation to Kevin Love's, and Cleveland got Love for what would amount to less than trading Beal, much less than Beal + Gortat + other stuff. Beal is an All Star caliber player right now, Wiggins was years away from that level when he got dealt. And I don't think Cousins is really that close to Kevin Love when Love was traded--coming off a 14 win share season. Even right now I think Love has a lot more value than Cousins.

Cousins can also influence where he gets traded by scaring teams out of the market like Kevin Love did. If he really wants to come to D.C., and we were willing to trade for him, he could probably make it happen.

But I actually don't think the Wizards are looking to trade for Cousins. The FO is completely honed in on Durant and I don't think they are going to abandon the plan to get him until after he makes his decision in free agency this summer.

Dat, I did have in mind what Cleveland got for Kevin Love.

Beal, Gortat, a first, and an EG gratuitously given away second round pick can get it done. Particularly if Bradley Beal makes the All Star team despite Washington being a lottery team this season. A lottery pick could fetch a player like Diamond Stone. Gortat, Beal, and Stone for Cousins is easily fair.

Personally, I value Cousins more than Love. He made 4 of 5 threes last night. Unlike Love, he can play C. He defends either C or PF well. He plays much more physical ball than Love.

But I do agree with Steve that Boogie scares some teams off and there aren't teams making big offers. Now is BID (relatively) LOW time. Webber went to Sacto for much cheaper and he was better than Cousins. Let the Kings repay the Wizards.

[pcbothwel]

I wouldn't mind acquiring Joe Johnson, insane salary but expiring I believe? He's the best readily available fit for a stretch 4.

Too much salary. You would have to include Nene and I think Nene is going to single handily bring us back in a few games this year when he dominates a second unit with some scoring and elite passing.

If you send out Nene and Hump, then you are really depleting us up front

[Dat2U]

I wouldn't mind acquiring Joe Johnson, insane salary but expiring I believe? He's the best readily available fit for a stretch 4.

Too much salary. You would have to include Nene and I think Nene is going to single handily bring us back in a few games this year when he dominates a second unit with some scoring and elite passing.

If you send out Nene and Hump, then you are really depleting us up front

Nene yes. Hump no. Losing Hump won't hurt us one bit. I'm confident we could find someone in the D-League.

I would be interested in Joe Johnson but considering our front court, giving away Nene would be a bad idea at the moment.

[fishercob]

I love Boogie Cousins. I love his passion, his energy, and his game. One of my favorite stories:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/briancmahoney/status/508951491441614850[/tweet]

I loved his "Call Me" gesture to Mississippi State fans after they got his cell number and harassed him the night before their game.

With a hopeful eye, I see a lot of what Nate sees. He's never had a stable organization behind him and he's had mostly crappy teammates. That's a very tough environment in which to grow.

At the same time, I have serious reservations. Jay Bilas, whom I really respect, said pre-draft that COusins was the most talented player in that draft, but based on his experiences working with him, he wouldn't take him anywhere in the lottery. That's a huge red flag to me; Bilas is a pretty sober analyst. And personal connection aside, I worry about teaming Wall with another supposed star who has the same weaknesses -- inefficiency and turnovers.

It's not an easy call based on what I know right now. I'd absolutely work the back channels and find out if replacing Beal and Gortat with Cousins would increase or decrease the likelihood Durant comes here. If I can get an answer to that question, I'd proceed accordingly. If I couldn't get an answer to that question, I'd still probably make the deal -- because I think Cousins at his age and contract stand to have more value in a year than Gortat/Beal at their ages and contracts.

But honestly it is a tough call.

[Dat2U]

It's funny the main guy that said we should have drafted Cousins instead of Wall won't trade anything of value for Cousins. CCJ you may not want to offer too much for Cousins but that doesn't matter competing with 29 other teams for his services. IMO Beal & Gortat is the start of the package that gets us in the conversation and we'll need to add picks & players from there.

I don't know, I don't think it's a 29 team market. Actually, I'm not sure how much of a market there is for Cousins. Every team would tell you they'd love to have him, but I doubt many would pony up a whole lot to get him. He's a big risk and Sacramento's leverage isn't great because they are such a publicly dysfunctional mess. But these things usually come down to a competition between a small number of teams and the original team is usually lucky to get 50 cents on the dollar for trading a disgruntled star. I compare the situation to Kevin Love's, and Cleveland got Love for what would amount to less than trading Beal, much less than Beal + Gortat + other stuff. Beal is an All Star caliber player right now, Wiggins was years away from that level when he got dealt. And I don't think Cousins is really that close to Kevin Love when Love was traded--coming off a 14 win share season. Even right now I think Love has a lot more value than Cousins.

Cousins can also influence where he gets traded by scaring teams out of the market like Kevin Love did. If he really wants to come to D.C., and we were willing to trade for him, he could probably make it happen.

But I actually don't think the Wizards are looking to trade for Cousins. The FO is completely honed in on Durant and I don't think they are going to abandon the plan to get him until after he makes his decision in free agency this summer.

Dat, I did have in mind what Cleveland got for Kevin Love.

Beal, Gortat, a first, and an EG gratuitously given away second round pick can get it done. Particularly if Bradley Beal makes the All Star team despite Washington being a lottery team this season. A lottery pick could fetch a player like Diamond Stone. Gortat, Beal, and Stone for Cousins is easily fair.

Personally, I value Cousins more than Love. He made 4 of 5 threes last night. Unlike Love, he can play C. He defends either C or PF well. He plays much more physical ball than Love.

But I do agree with Steve that Boogie scares some teams off and there aren't teams making big offers. Now as BID (relatively) LOW time. Webber went to Sacto for much cheaper and he was better than Cousins. Let the Kings repay the Wizards.

Why would the Kings repay the Wizards when there are plenty of other teams waiting to make an offer. Maybe not 29 but more than enough to ensure there are quality offers. IMO if we can keep Porter and get McLemore in return then I would do the deal even if it included Oubre and multiple firsts to go along with Beal & Gortat. Is it too much? Meh. This is a league of stars. Maybe Cousins doesn't quite meet star level when held under the Wins Produced microscope but there's no doubting Cousins talent and his great relationship with Wall. Those two alone paired with floor spacers would be well equipped for long playoff runs. I wouldn't let a 1st rd pick in 2019 or losing the next Trevor Ariza in Oubre dissuade me from making that deal.