Sacramento Kings GM Geoff Petrie Claims DeMarcus Cousins Not On Trade Block

And Petrie awakens from his hibernation! Congratulations!
Talking with NBA.com’s David Aldridge, the normally quiet captain of the Kings ship put to bed any suggestions of a DeMarcus Cousins trade, all but stomping his feet at the thought:

“You can put that one to rest,” Petrie said. “He’s not going anywhere. You can lay that to rest. Some of that stuff lives in its own reality.”
…
“Everybody’s moving forward,” Petrie said. “He’s still a young, developing player that’s yet to reach his potential and is still a major piece of the future planning here. Everyone’s committed to working with his development as a player and his overall growth…he’s still an important part of the future. He’s like a lot of people. Some have good days, and some days are better than others. We’re going to continue to work with him to help him reach his potential, which is still very high.”

There’s no doubt teams have called and will continue to call on Cousins and of course the Kings will do their part and listen – it’s their job, but that doesn’t mean they’re actively shopping him despite the salivating glands of many opposing franchises and teams.
Aldridge also asked Petrie about the rumored suggestions that Cousins see a psychiatrist or somebody to help him deal with his anger issues, to which Geoff declined to speak about:

“Those types of issues are private and should remain with the player, his representatives and obviously the people on the team,” Petrie said. “That’s really getting into personal information that I don’t think anybody really has a right to know. I don’t know that you’d want your medical records out there.”

Could it all be a smokescreen? There’s always the chance, but the Kings are going to ask for the moon in regards to Cousins. He’s still signed through the rest of this season and next, not to mention having a qualifying offer for the 2014-15 season – so with at least two and a half years left remaining on his contract, there is plenty of time for the kinks to be worked out before the Kings have to wash their hands.

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