Kings' Divac says everything on the table, but won't be bullied into trading Cousins

The Sacramento Kings have become the NBA's most engrossing sideshow, their dysfunction as reliable as a Tim Duncan bank-shot from the elbow.

Even putting aside the season-long organizational maelstrom that left George Karl as the team's head coach and Vlade Divac as the man with his finger on the button - the survivor amidst the smoking wreckage of owner Vivek Ranadive's front office - what's happened in the past several days alone is enough to make one's head spin. Here's a quick rundown:

• All-NBA center DeMarcus Cousins was said to be at odds with Karl, who reportedly pushed for Cousins to be traded.
• The Kings denied the coach was pushing for a deal, with Divac declaring Cousins untradeable, for the umpteenth time.
• The Kings then seemingly softened that stance, reportedly working to deal him to the Los Angeles Lakers, among other teams.
• Karl said he was all good with Cousins, as long as the star big man was ready to come committed.
• Cousins - having already taken a pretty thinly veiled potshot at Karl - said he wanted to stay in Sacramento, while friction was revealed to exist between Divac and Karl.
• The Kings reportedly considered letting Karl go, just five months after hiring him.
• Despite the trade rumors, the Kings held onto Cousins through draft night, and selected a player he was said to be fond of.
• After the draft, Divac made like a haughty child and said he "wants to be in charge of everything," and that Karl needs to trust him to do his job.

Doubtless, we haven't seen the last twist in this strange story, but things seem to have calmed down a bit for now. On Friday, Divac had more light to shed on his stormy first summer as the Kings' man in charge, hinting that much of the pressure for a Cousins trade has been coming from the superstar's own camp, and saying he refuses to kowtow, to them or to anyone.

"I just was tired last week, or days, of these rumors, and putting a lot of stuff on our back, making this even harder than it is," Divac said in an interview with Sacramento radio station KHTK 1140, according to USA Today's Sam Amick.

"I try to be who I am, and try to do my job best I can and try to do the best I can for the franchise. I'm not going to let somebody change my mind because they're putting (threats in) the paper or putting the pressure on me. I'll do the best I can to improve this team."

What exactly that will involve doesn't appear clear to anyone, but Divac says he hasn't given up trying to mend the fractured relationship between him, Karl, and Cousins:

I'll be honest with you, how I think right now, I think they got the message yesterday. So here I am, and if you're on board, (you're) more than welcome. If you're not, I've got to go. I can't wait. We do have everything except time. We have to go forward and try to make it a healthy environment and try to have a good team for next year.

Look, we're going to have ups and downs in the next couple months. And you're going to hate me, you're going to love me, but believe me I'm going to do the best I can to make this thing work. With me, with DeMarcus, with George, or without me, without DeMarcus, without George, I don't know. But we'll make it work.

Easier said than done, to be sure, but Divac is holding out hope.

"Well you know, like in every other job, you have bad days and good days," he said. "I'm glad that I met my bad days in early stage. I'm waiting for good days in the future."