Sacramento Kings coach George Karl: I apologized to DeMarcus Cousins
Sacramento Kings coach George Karl told CSN Bay Area’s Kayte Christensen he apologized to center DeMarcus Cousins for a comment he made last season.
Cousins has been the subject of trade rumors in Sacramento during multiple overhauls of the team’s front office. Karl was hired as the Kings coach in February of last season and made comments suggesting Cousins was a tradeable player.
“I’ve had some great players and I’ve never had one player that I have said is untradeable,” Karl said earlier this year. “You always got to be ready for the possibility of a great trade that could come your way.”
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Karl backtracked those comments when speaking with Christensen.
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“That was wrong for me to say, because you all took it and blew it up into crazy. But it’s my responsibility to be smart enough to not say things like that,” Karl said. “So I did apologize because I thought that was the only thing, maybe some other things, but really the only thing that got us separated was that comment that then everybody wrote the we’re going to trade [Cousins].”
Cousins averaged 24.1 points and 12.7 rebounds per game for the Kings last season. Sacramento finished 29–53, a one win improvement from the previous year.
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Photos: Cousins ranked 14th in SI’s Top 100 Players of 2016
Top 100 NBA Players of 2016
#100 — Giannis Antetokounmpo
#99 — Wesley Matthews
#98 — Donatas Motiejunas
#97 — Nerlens Noel
#96 — Josh Smith
#95 — Roy Hibbert
#94 — Reggie Jackson
#93 — J.J. Redick
#92 — Lou Williams
#91 — Andrew Wiggins
#90 — Taj Gibson
#89 — Amir Johnson
#88 — Isaiah Thomas
#87 — Ricky Rubio
#86 — Kenneth Faried
#85 — Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
#84 — Robin Lopez
#83 — Deron Williams
#82 — Joe Johnson
#81 — DeMarre Carroll
#80 — George Hill
#79 — Brandon Knight
#78 — Tobias Harris
#77 — Jonas Valanciunas
#76 — Andrew Bogut
#75 — Thaddeus Young
#74 — Tiago Splitter
#73 — Danilo Gallinari
#72 — Ryan Anderson
#71 — Paul Pierce
#70 — Tristan Thompson
#69 — Hassan Whiteside
#68 — Timofey Mozgov
#67 — Nikola Vucevic
#66 — Chandler Parsons
#65 — Trevor Ariza
#64 — Markieff Morris
#63 — Marcin Gortat
#62 — Bradley Beal
#61 — DeMar DeRozan
#60 — Derrick Rose
#59 — Jrue Holiday
#58 — Tyreke Evans
#57 — Monta Ellis
#56 — Luol Deng
#55 — Nicolas Batum
#54 — Kobe Bryant
#53 — Tony Parker
#52 — Rudy Gay
#51 — Ty Lawson
#50 — Danny Green
#49 — Zach Randolph
#48 — Greg Monroe
#47 — Al Jefferson
#46 — Kyle Korver
#45 — Khris Middleton
#44 — Andre Iguodala
#43 — Joakim Noah
#42 — Goran Dragic
#41 — Jeff Teague
#40 — Pau Gasol
#39 — Rudy Gobert
#38 — Brook Lopez
#37 — Derrick Favors
#36 — Tyson Chandler
#35 — Andre Drummond
#34 — Kyle Lowry
#33 — Eric Bledsoe
#32 — Paul Millsap
#31 — Gordon Hayward
#30 — Dwyane Wade
#29 — DeAndre Jordan
#28 — Dirk Nowitzki
#27 — Mike Conley
#26 — Klay Thompson
#25 — Serge Ibaka
#24 — Damian Lillard
#23 — Kyrie Irving
#22 — Chris Bosh
#21 — Al Horford
#20 — Paul George
#19 — Dwight Howard
#18 — Jimmy Butler
#17 — Kevin Love
#16 — Draymond Green
#15 — Carmelo Anthony
#14 — DeMarcus Cousins
#13 — John Wall
#12 — LaMarcus Aldridge
#11 — Tim Duncan
#10 — Kawhi Leonard
#9 — Marc Gasol
#8 — Blake Griffin
#7 — Russell Westbrook
#6 — Chris Paul
#5 — James Harden
#4 — Stephen-Curry
#3 — Anthony Davis
#2 — Kevin Durant
#1 — LeBron James
– Rohan Nadkarni