DeMarcus Cousins (Photo : REUTERS)
The Los Angeles Lakers made their presence felt even before the NBA offseason officially begins on July 1 following reports from multiple sources that they have already made aggressive steps towards acquiring Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins via trade.
According to ESPN NBA writer Marc Stein, the Lakers are working on a three-team deal with the Orlando Magic acting as a conduit team to nab Cousins, who is by far the most dominant offensive big man in the NBA last season.
ProBasketball Draft indicated that the early framework of the proposed blockbuster deal has the Kings getting no.5 draft pick, budding center Nikola Vucevic and additional picks or established players, the Magic receiving the no.2 overall pick - which they would use to select Jahlil Okafor - and the Lakers nabbing All-Star center Cousins and the no.6 pick.
The Lakers' latest pursuit of Cousins has somewhat left a bad taste in mount for the Celtics, who are also targeting the 6-foot-11 double-double machine. Roughly a couple of months ago, Stein reported about the Celtics' ambitious plan to bring in Cousins by using all the future picks and assets they acquired through a series of transactions the past two seasons.
"Will they open their war chest of future draft picks to try to pry DeMarcus Cousins away from the Sacramento via trade? The early word out there is: Bank on it. Will they be in the mix for pretty much any name player who unexpectedly comes available in coming months? Bank on that, too," Stein reported.
However, Tom Westerholm of Celtics Hub, an ESPN Tru Hoop affiliate site, claimed the Celtics didn't have a shot at Cousins even before the Lakers began to make their moves. Although he admitted that the Lakers may have a better package in store, he just couldn't believe the Kings front-office would accept a roulette of draft picks and young veterans (Jared Dillinger, Avery Bradley and Evan Turner) from the Celtics or the no.2 pick and a bunch of players from the Lakers.
He believes that if the Kings would even try to move Cousins, the Denver Nuggets appear to be the most appealing trade partners simply because of their ability to trade Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried - who are both targeted by the Kings in the past..
"The most likely contender for Cousins, at this point? It might be Denver, which can offer the (slightly above-average) veteran duo of Ty Lawson and Kenneth Faried. That deal would be a nightmare for Sacramento, but they seem to be drifting in that direction anyway," Wasterholm writes.
"The Kings seem hellbent on driving off a cliff, but they are certain they want to do it in a Ford Taurus. The Lakers' BMW - or even the Celtics' nice family sedan - just aren't what they are looking for right now."
Seven years ago, the Los Angeles Lakers thought they had a handshake deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves for All-Star forward and former MVP Kevin Garnett, only to find out that the Celtics already snatched their target by pulling off one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history.
The Celtics, who ironically met the Lakers in the NBA finals that year, won an NBA championship and had another trip in the NBA Finals two years later where they lost at the hands of their purple-and-gold nemesis.
Back to the present, the Lakers are once again emerging as the frontrunner for a flat-out dominant big man. However, history tells that writing off Danny Ainge and the Celtics from any major trade would be a big mistake. Perhaps, someone is just playing possum again, waiting for the opportunity to strike and shock the basketball world once more.
