As you already know, on Sunday night the Kings finally put an end to all of those DeMarcus Cousins trade rumors by tearing off the band-aid and sending him to the Pelicans. In return they got Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a first-round pick, a second-round pick and, oh, that's it. As you also may know, pretty much nobody seems to think the Kings came away on the winning side of this deal.
Well nobody, that is, except possibly for Sacramento's owner, Vivek Ranadive. We say that because, according to NBA writer Baxter Holmes, the Kings' underwhelming return may be because Ranadive has such a high opinion of Hield that he thinks he could/will be the next Steph Curry. That particular fixation is what pushed the pending transaction over the top:
Sounds like Hield will have no shortage of pressure from the moment he arrives to his new team. All he's got to do is become the foremost shooter in league history, and push for back-to-back MVP awards. Nothing too crazy.
What's also curious is that GM Vlade Divac admitted the team had a better offer just two days ago. So, if you're a Kings fan, hopefully you became numb long ago to bad news from your favorite team:
Thus far the rookie out of Oklahoma appears to be a ways off from these reportedly insane expectations, as he has averages of 8.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per night on 39.2 percent shooting from the field. For comparison's sake, in Curry's rookie year he held averages of 17.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists on 46.2 percent, respectively.
Previously, the same owner was on record as comparing Nik Stauskas to Curry. He was subsequently chosen by Sacramento with the 8th overall pick of the 2014 draft, and then traded to the Sixers in a salary-clearing trade just over a year later:
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This is one of many reasons why people don't like it when owners meddle.
