Kings' Karl: I apologized to Cousins for 'untradeable' remark
Sacramento Kings head coach George Karl came to the realization that he made a terrible mistake with some comments he made near the end of last season, when he hinted that franchise big DeMarcus Cousins wasn't worthy of being deemed "untradeable."
"I’ve had some great players and I’ve never had one player that I have said is untradeable," Karl told the Sacramento media, according to CSN Bay Area's Bill Herenda. "You always got to be ready for the possibility of a great trade that could come your way."
The quote spread like wildfire, leading to rumors that Karl was working his magic behind closed doors to get the 6-foot-11 center out of town. While his remarks may have had better intentions, it was easy for the media to roll with the coach's words as if there were deeper, underlying issues between player and coach. For that, Karl felt the need to tell Cousins he was sorry.
"To be honest with you, I apologized to DeMarcus for making the trade comment that I’ve never coached a player that’s untradeable," Karl said to CSN's Kayte Christensen, per James Ham. "That was wrong for me to say, because you all (the media) took it and blew it up into crazy.
"But it’s my responsibility to be smart enough to not say things like that. 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)."
The relationship between Karl and Cousins appears to have improved over the last little while, with the 64-year-old recently describing it as "solid to good." Having the two on the same page will be vital for Sacramento's potential success next season, as the team will be looking to surpass the 30-win mark for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.
Across 59 games in 2014-15, Cousins averaged 24.1 points and 12.7 rebounds on 46.7 percent shooting from the field, earning a spot on the Western Conference All-Star team in the process.