Sacramento Kings trade DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans Pelicans, Anthony Davis elated

The Sacramento Kings (24-33) have traded All-Star centre DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans Pelicans (23-34) for a package of Buddy Hield, ‎Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway and a future first and second-round pick, according to several reports.

According to ESPN's Mark Stein, the teams came to terms barely minutes after the All-Star game in New Orleans on Sunday evening. Cousins played only two minutes of the exhibition game due to the developing trade talks.

DeMarcus Cousin trade: Anthony Davis thrilled about new Twin Towers

Pelicans star Anthony Davis, who won the 2017 NBA All-Star Game MVP for his 52-point performance Sunday, was elated to hear the news of Cousins' trade. "This is an unbelievable weekend. All-Star MVP and now getting Boogie. It doesn't get better than this."

Meanwhile, a source told ESPN that the Pelicans is confident about inking Cousins to a long-term contract. The former Kentucky standout will be an unrestricted free agent in 2018, but has the option of re-signing with New Orleans this summer. "I don't think they would have done the trade without a lot of confidence they could re-sign him," a source close to the Pelicans was quoted as saying.

Earlier on Sunday, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported that Kings owner Vivek Ranadive had softened his stance on a potential DeMarcus Cousins trade due to his unwillingness to sign the All-Star centre to a super max contract extention later in the summer. A little later, Jarinn Akana, the agent of Cousins, told ESPN that his client would refuse to a sign a contract extension with the team that he's traded to.

"I have spoken many times recently with (Sacramento Kings owner) Vivek (Ranadive) and (general manager) Vlade (Divac) about DeMarcus' future with the Kings. They have assured me, and DeMarcus, that the Kings won't trade him, and are committed to signing DeMarcus long term. In fact, Vlade has gone on record saying exactly the same thing. If the Kings flip-flop on what they committed, that is on them.

"Under the circumstances and given the Kings' commitments, I would find it highly unlikely that DeMarcus would re-sign with a team that trades for him at this point," Akana was quoted as saying by ESPN.