Milwaukee Bucks Rumors: DeMarcus Cousins Worth Trading For?

Why a Trade Wouldn’t Happen

There’s an easy explanation for why this trade would never happen: Milwaukee would never do it.

It’s way too early in their careers for the Bucks to seriously consider trading any of their core three guys.

Parker possesses great upside, and if his run after the All-Star break is any indication, he’s going to be one of the league’s most talented scorers for years to come.

It’s also way too early to judge Parker’s defensive limitations as being permanent. He doesn’t possess a great feel or understanding on the defensive side of the game yet, and he also seems to lack the lateral quickness to be an elite defender. However, with continued coaching and work put in this off-season,and in the years to come, Parker will certainly become a better defender than he is today. Whether that means he goes on to become above average or not is yet to be determined. However, it’s way too early to make the call to move him because of his defense.

Parker has also made it quite clear that he wants to remain a Milwaukee Buck for the foreseeable future. Few players have wanted to come to Milwaukee over the past 20 years, and trading him for a potential flight risk in Cousins wouldn’t exactly be the safest option.

The final reason this trade would never happen is because of the risk involved in taking on Cousins. No matter how good of a player Cousins may be, his on-court attitude issues would present too much of the risk for the Bucks to take on.

Parker is the model professional, giving 100% effort on the floor every night and has shown the leadership qualities you look for in a potential franchise player.

Cousins, on the other hand, has had trouble getting along with coaches and teammates throughout his career. That’s not to say that Cousins can’t change, or that he can’t represent your team well off the court. He’s done a great deal of charity work, including donating over $1 million to various charities after he signed his first extension. However, his inability to control his emotions and stay in focus for an 82 game season, have given teams real reasons to question whether he can ever be the guy on a contending team.

The trade also doesn’t make a ton of sense for Sacramento. Though the Bucks would have arguably the best young player to offer the Kings, other teams like the Lakers have a better number of assets to offer.

For example, if the Lakers keep their first round pick this year, the Lakers would have a top three pick to offer in addition to DeAngelo Russell. They also have other young guys, like Julius Randle, whom the Kings would want to enable them to engage in a more comprehensive rebuild.

Given that there are other teams out there who can go beyond what the Bucks would be offering, it’s unlikely the Kings would pick an offer from Milwaukee, even if it involved Middleton or Parker.

Next: Conclusion