Divac admits Kings had better offer for Cousins

Vlade Divac addressed the media today shortly after the trade to send DeMarcus Cousins to the Pelicans became official. This was an opportunity for the Kings to try to account for one of the most questionable decisions in franchise history and Divac somehow made the team look worse.

Culture matters was the big talking point for Divac with the media. In his press release announcing the trade, Divac said the following:

“It was time for a change and I decided this was the best direction for the organization, said Divac. “Winning begins with culture and character matters.”

This is apparently a brand new realization for the organization that went out of their way to sign guys like Rajon Rondo, Ty Lawson and Matt Barnes. The Kings are parting ways with Barnes now, but not because “culture matters”, but because they needed to in order to make room for the trade.

As for the details of how the trade actually went down, Divac’s answers were illuminating, and not in a good way. After saying that he took the best offer for Cousins in his opening statements, Divac willingly proffered up to the media the fact that he actually had a better offer on the table two days ago, only for that offer to go away. Divac would not discuss why the Kings didn’t take that offer or why it disappeared, but apparently, that offer going away was the reason the Kings seemingly rushed into their deal with New Orleans.

Carmichael Dave summed it up best:

The Kings already looked like dunces for the haul they got for Cousins, but to admit they could have had a better offer if they acted sooner just proves incompetence.

What a debacle.