DeMarcus Cousins Gets Emotional Saying Goodbye to Kings Fans, Sacramento
It is sometimes easy to forget the human side of a sports trade.
New Orleans Pelicans big man DeMarcus Cousins reminded fans of that on Monday when speaking to a crowd about Sacramento, California. The Sacramento Kings announced Monday that they traded Cousins to the Pelicans, but Cousins took the time to express his love for the city in an emotional message that Carmichael Dave of KHTK Sports 1140 shared:
"My love for this city will never change," Cousins said. "Even though I'm gone, it will still be the same. I'm still looking out for these kids. Every family in this city matters to me."
Cousins also spoke to reporters about his exit from Sacramento on Tuesday, via Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee:
His emotional comments drew cheers from the crowd as well as Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry on Twitter:
Despite the positivity displayed toward the fans and city, there were some issues between Cousins and the front office and coaches during his time in Sacramento. Dave Joerger was Cousins' sixth head coach in seven seasons, and Cousins was suspended last year for confronting then-head coach George Karl.
Kings general manager Vlade Divac said "winning begins with culture and character matters" in the team's release discussing the decision to trade Cousins.
After the Kentucky product appeared on SportsCenter on Thursday, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com wrote, "Cousins acknowledged the trust issues that have hurt his relationship with Kings management in the past but said he has found a way of dealing with it." Evidently, management wanted to go in a different direction.
During his speech, Cousins showed genuine love for the fans and the only NBA city he has ever played for since the Kings drafted him with the No. 5 pick in 2010.
He will now look to foster that type of love with the supporters in New Orleans alongside fellow dominant frontcourt player Anthony Davis. Cousins will likely make fans quickly if he comes close to his season averages of 27.8 points and 10.6 rebounds per game and spearheads a postseason run.
New Orleans is 2.5 games behind the Denver Nuggets for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference and would also have to leapfrog the Kings—who are one game ahead of the Pelicans—to get Cousins into the playoffs for the first time in his career.
