NBA Rumors: Latest on Potential DeMarcus Cousins Trade, Jrue Holiday and More
The new NBA season is three weeks old, which means teams and players are just beginning to regress to what their means will probably be during the year.
As teams make realizations about the strength of their squads and the players on them, some trade rumors have started to brew. Let's check in with a couple of those and also break down the situation of a star point guard who is returning to his team after being gone for more than a month.
The longstanding DeMarcus Cousins saga continued Monday when Sporting News' Sean Deveney reported some new information regarding the Sacramento Kings' intentions with their star center.
According to Deveney, "there's reason to think that by the time February's trade deadline comes around, Cousins will no longer be with the Kings—and a move could come in the first half of December. That's the speculation among front office executives around the league, at least."
Deveney added that one anonymous executive said Cousins has "three months, tops" with the team. That's a bold prediction, especially considering all the past trade rumors regarding the 26-year-old All-Star that proved to be unfruitful.
If you're Sacramento, there's really no reason to put off shopping and then getting a deal done regarding Cousins. He's helping keep the 4-7 Kings somewhat competitive, which is counterproductive for a team that should be starting a complete rebuild. Sacramento will also lose its 2017 first-round draft pick to the Chicago Bulls if it falls out of the top 10, so that's another reason for the team to tank.
Jrue Holiday
Jrue Holiday's decision to miss the initial portion of this NBA season to care for his wife, who was recovering from surgery to remove a benign brain tumor, certainly was a blow to the New Orleans Pelicans. But it was a move that showed exemplary character on his part.
Holiday will return this week to his 2-9 team, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. However, the Advocate's Scott Kushner reported that the squad isn't planning to unleash him fully right off the bat:
This treatment is pretty standard for someone like Holiday, who hasn't played an NBA game in more than seven months. It will hurt the Pelicans, though, who have been desperately missing the scoring punch Holiday can provide.
Once the former UCLA standout regains his full workload, it will be interesting to see how the Pelicans elect to deal with Tim Frazier. Frazier has emerged as a solid point guard and Anthony Davis' top teammate early in the season, but he plays the same position as Holiday. Don't be surprised if head coach Alvin Gentry tries to play them together at times.
Boston Celtics
The Celtics have been the topic of numerous trade rumors over the past several years. They're full of solid, but not untouchable, assets and need a true superstar player to reach the next level as a championship contender, which makes them a classic buyer on the trade market.
So far this season, though, the Celtics haven't even been a good team, winning exactly half of their 10 games. Part of it is injuries, but part of it is a lack of effort on defense and a size-challenged roster that seems built to rebound the ball poorly. Not surprisingly, more buzz about Boston's intention to acquire a new player (or players) has surfaced.
A. Sherrod Blakely of CSN New England reported that the team is "only interested in potential 'game-changers' on the trade market." For Boston's sake, that player would probably have to be a big man who helps with the team's rebounding problems and can play next to Al Horford.
Given that most of the league's elite players nowadays are guards and wings, the number of star big men who can dominate the boards isn't high. Though neither player has been specifically linked to Boston in a concrete rumor recently, Cousins and Anthony Davis (as Blakely speculated) are the two names that make the most sense. We'll see if the Celtics make a serious run at either player, or someone else, before the trade deadline in February.
