NBA Trade Rumors: Kings' Westphal Foolishly Hurts DeMarcus Cousins' Trade Value

It's not easy to deal with a player like Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins.

He's had character issues since his days with John Calipari at Kentucky, and it's part of the reason why he isn't adored by the Kings.

On Saturday night, Kings head coach Paul Westphal sent out a press release saying the reason Cousins didn't play against the New Orleans Hornets was because he had demanded a trade.

I can just see Westphal typing that press release himself, fingers furiously pounding on the keyboard while he twitches uncontrollably with rage.

Wrote Westphal, via NBA.com:

"

"As coaches, we can only ask that our players do everything they can to improve themselves as individuals and teammates. If they do this with all their hearts, we live with the results...

"However, when a player continually, aggressively, lets it be known that he is unwilling/unable to embrace traveling in the same direction as his team, it cannot be ignored indefinitely."

"

I don't blame Westphal. If I had to deal with Cousins it would be hard for me not to lash out.

But when Westphal reacted the way he did, instead of keeping it on the down-low, he actually made it harder for the Kings to trade Cousins because now everybody knows the Kings just want to get rid of him.

Tweeted Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated:

Cousins has been woeful shooting the ball since getting drafted No. 5 overall in 2010. He's shot 42.5 percent for his career so far.

But he's also averaged 8.7 rebounds, including 11.3 rebounds in four games with the Kings this season. He did have value, especially because teams tend to give former No. 5 picks a chance until they are legitimately busts.

But did is the key word. He doesn't have much value after Westphal's press release and Westphal's words only fueled concerns about Cousins' character.

The Kings are 2-3 this season and coming off a year in which they went 24-58.

The last thing they need is to mismanage their resources.