SH Blog: Is George Karl known as a snake in the grass?; Goran Dragic officially enters free agency

Is veteran coach George Karl secretly a snake in the grass?

That’s what DeMarcus Cousins and a few other stars from Karl-led teams seem to believe. Via Basketball Forever, here’s the infamous tweet of emojis from Cousins last night mashed with several others in past years from previous Karl players such as Carmelo Anthony and Andre Igoudala. There seems to be a common theme.

According to Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Karl has recently tried to convince Kings’ management to trade Cousins, an idea that owner Vivek Ranadivé and front-office head Vlade Divac are adamantly opposed to. Cousins, of course, averaged 24.1 points and 12.7 rebounds last season and remains arguably the NBA’s most talented big man.

On the other hand, Cousins is known to be quite temperamental, and Karl may not want him as the leader of his new team going forward. Veteran Sacramento forward Rudy Gay is also said to be on the market, Wojnarowski reports.

If this situation existed in a vacuum, it’d be easy to take Karl’s side and assume more problems are going on behind the scenes in Sacramento due to Cousins’ attitude. But considering Karl has also had these issues with his other star players, it may say more about Karl’s ability to reach the players than about the players themselves.

Karl built winning teams in Seattle after losing Shawn Kemp and in Denver after dealing Anthony, but neither was a legitimate title contender. To become that in the modern NBA, it generally takes at least one elite talent, which Cousins is — and it’s becoming a valid question whether Karl is willing to work with players of that caliber.

It’ll be fascinating to watch what happens with the Kings. In theory, with Cousins signed through 2018, management could move in a new direction, hire a new coach and rebuild the relationship with their star player. But Karl was a big-money hire (four years, $14.5 million) for a small-market franchise, so it’s unlikely they would take the huge fiscal hit of parting just months after signing the contract.

They could also move Cousins, of course, but it would seem incredibly abrupt. With Cousins signed through 2018, the Kings should be in no hurry to move him. Even if Cousins wants out — and he does have super-agent Dan Fegan to help him — he has zero leverage. They could wait until the summer of 2016 to trade him and still have the entire league as potential suitors, given that he’d still be under contract to his new team for multiple seasons.

Making matters more bizarre, Karl’s vision apparently doesn’t involve trading Cousins for high draft picks, which has been the standard operating procedure for most teams trading star players, such as when Orlando dealt Dwight Howard in 2012. Wojnarowski writes that the Lakers’ No. 2 pick is not attractive to the Kings in trade talks, because Karl would prefer veterans that could help them win now. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated says former first-round pick Julius Randle could also be “in play” from the Lakers in a Cousins offer, but he wouldn’t fit the veteran mold, either. Another factor is that Ranadive doesn’t want to rebuild with a move into a new Sacramento arena on the horizon, Wojnarowski writes.

In some ways, the 2011 trade of Anthony to New York could serve as a template for what Karl wants to do, since the depth of players Denver acquired in that deal (Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Raymond Felton, and Timofey Mozgov) formed the backbone of a competitive team that worked well together, had good chemistry and ultimately finished No. 3 in the West in 2012-13 with a 57-25 record.

That said, Denver never came close to a title under that model. (The 2012-13 Nuggets lost in the first round.) And if winning a ring is Sacramento’s goal, it’s tough to see how Karl could sell Vlade Divac and other Kings executives that trading Cousins for quarters on the dollar is the appropriate route to go.

The logical conclusion is for Sacramento to let the situation blow over and hope cooler heads prevail once the team reports for training camp in a few months. But those hopes may be dwindling by the day.

GORAN DRAGIC OPTS OUT OF MIAMI CONTRACT

Goran Dragic has officially declined his player option with the Miami Heat, making him a free agent on July 1, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders.

The move was expected, since Dragic’s player option was for a mere $7.5 million in 2015-16 and his play clearly warrants more money. But with Miami facing a financial crunch, retaining their point guard may not be the slam dunk it once appeared.

ESPN‘s Marc Stein reports that the Heat are planning to offer Dragic a five-year deal in excess of $80 million, which would come in well short of the projected max of $109 million over five years. Other suitors, such as the Lakers or Knicks, could offer a four-year contract in the $85-million range.

The Heat are already facing a tricky summer with franchise icon Dwyane Wade, who wants a new contract extension for major money, and they also must leave financial room in 2016 to re-sign Hassan Whiteside. And for a team that missed the playoffs entirely in 2014-15, they’d probably like to avoid paying a significant luxury-tax bill. All of those factors are why the team is trying to move veteran players such as Mario Chalmers and Chris Andersen for additional cap relief.

Miami was on Dragic’s wish list at the February trade deadline and he reportedly enjoyed his time there, so the odds are still on the side of him staying with the Heat. But it seems to be far from a lock.

OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE

The Houston Rockets are attempting to acquire another first-round pick, reports Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.

The Rockets, who already have the No. 18 pick (via New Orleans), are now surveying the landscape for potential deals. Berger reports Memphis (pick #25) and San Antonio (#26) could be open to dealing their picks to avoid cap holds and preserve room as they approach an important July, when both clubs have major players such as Marc Gasol and Kawhi Leonard set to enter free agency.

It’s unclear what player the Rockets and GM Daryl Morey may be targeting, but the team’s obvious need is at point guard. Starter Pat Beverley is an impending free agent, and he was average-at-best as a starter, even when healthy. Moreover, backups Jason Terry and Pablo Prigioni — who had to take on full-time duty in the playoffs with Beverley out injured — are 37 and 38 years old, respectively.

The Rockets desperately need to add new blood at the position, and options like Duke’s Tyus Jones and Notre Dame’s Jerian Grant could fit the bill in the latter half of the first round. (For more on what Morey and the Rockets are looking for in the 1st round, check out my latest NBA Draft podcast.)

 

The Warriors are willing to trade the No. 30 pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft for the financial relief of moving veteran forward David Lee, reports Zach Lowe of Grantland.

Now 32 years old, Lee and the Warriors are working together to try and find a new home for him after his role greatly diminished with the Warriors amid the rise of Draymond Green.

Lee will make $15.5 million in 2015-16, but it is an expiring contract, so the acquiring team would have no long-term commitment. Because of that, Lowe says the Warriors “almost certainly” won’t sacrifice two picks to move Lee.

That said, as it stands, Lee’s contract and accompanying luxury-tax bill is set to cost the Warriors almost $50 million next season. If a deal appears close, that’s ample leverage for any team taking Lee off Golden State’s hands to hold out for the maximum possible deal.

 

Another motivation for the Kings in potential deals involving DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay is to create more salary-cap space to pursue free-agent point guard Rajon Rondo, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

“The Kings and Rondo have a mutual interest, with Rondo intrigued with the idea of a potential one-year deal in Sacramento that could help to rebuild his league-wide value,” Wojnarowski wrote in his column on Cousins.

Should the Kings go after Rondo, they would almost assuredly have to offer him the role as starting point guard. As a result, that could take the Kings out of play as a trade destination for Ty Lawson, Karl’s former point guard in Denver and a rumored object of Karl’s affection.

Ben DuBose is a veteran sports reporter who has followed the Houston Rockets and the NBA since Hakeem Olajuwon was Akeem Olajuwon. He writes for both SheridanHoops and ClutchFans, an independent Rockets blog. You can follow him on Twitter.