If you've ever been in a fantasy sports league the Cousins trade is a lot less shocking



At first glance (and 2nd and 3rd and 4th...) the Pelicans look like they absolutely fleeced the Kings with the DeMarcus Cousins trade. And of course they did. Fans around the league wonder why couldn't our team top that offer? Why wouldn't the Kings let everyone know they were trading Cousins and seek out the best offer? Rationale thoughts, but if you've ever been in a fantasy sports league, not all owners are that bright.

You'd think in the NBA that each team would hire the brightest GM they could find. That the NBA's 30 GM's were the best in the business and team owners would let them do their thing. The Kings continued dysfunction proves again that's not the case.

The Cousins for Buddy Hield and a protected 1st trade is classic fantasy basketball. You ask a GM in your league what would it take to trade for a player, they say he's not available. You still continue to offer generous packages for said player. They keep on declining your offers. They make absolutely unreasonable counter offers (It will take Jaylen, Crowder, Smart and both Nets picks for me to think about moving Cousins). You try to negotiate down with them and they won't budge. Then one night you get an email notification of a transaction and they've traded the player for 40 cents on the dollar.

They never let the fantasy league know the player was available. They never were smart enough to go back to the teams previously interested and say hey I have this (crappy Buddy Hield) offer, can you top it, otherwise I'm trading him tonight? Nope none of that. They just hit accept on a poor trade and continue to languish at the bottom of your fantasy league.

Yes the Kings are that idiot in your fantasy league. The team that in a keeper league trades away their picks, because they assume the picks won't be valuable because they will improve a great deal (See Kings trading their 2019 1st and 2017 pick swap to Philly). Everyone tries to take advantage of the idiot fantasy sports GM. The thing is there is no rhyme or reason to them.
The Cousins/Hield trade was a punch in the nuts to both Kings and Celtics fans

Yes the Celtics could have offered Vivek and Vlade more for Cousins, but who's to say the V's would be aware that it's more. Buddy Hield is an old rookie who projects as a complimentary piece. Vivek thinks he can be Steph Curry (He also thought Nik Stauskas could be Steph Curry, but in a bigger Klay Thompson body. Stauskas was subsequently dumped in the Philly trade with the 2 picks, so that Sacramento could sign Wes Mathews, who then turned down more money and re-signed with Dallas. The Kings then signed Rajon Rondo).

Over the past few years the Celtics likely offered a lot more than the Kings ultimately accepted for Cousins. They would have offered more on Sunday night if given the chance. But the Kings are that fantasy sports owner. They want the moon for their player and then quietly give him away for not only a star less package, but for barely anything. No use scratching your head at why couldn't the Celtics have closed the deal. You're thinking too rationally.

Related: O'Connor: Vlade Divac called the Celtics about Cousins, but refused to negotiate high asking price
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