For nearly two decades, not much has gone right for the Sacramento Kings. The team has only made one playoff appearance since the 2006-07 season, and even that one ended with a first-round loss. Ownership and the front office have been a mess, a fact made clear by former King Tyrese Haliburton leading the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals this past season.
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Haliburton was drafted by the Kings in 2020 but was then inexplicably traded away for Domantas Sabonis two years later. He’s not the only great player that the team has let get away either, as even De’Aaron Fox, whom the Kings ostensibly chose over Haliburton to be the team’s point guard of the future, was traded this past year to the Spurs.
DeMarcus Cousins is another one that got away. Boogie was a divisive figure during his time in the NBA, owing mostly to his immature behavior on the court. Despite that, there was no denying his talent, and for the first 6+ years of his career he put up some real numbers in Sacramento, before ultimately being traded to the Pelicans for a package that included Buddy Hield and Tyreke Evans.
Cousins averaged 21.1 points and 10.8 rebounds as a King and was selected to three All-Star teams while also making Second Team All-NBA twice. Those stats didn’t translate to winning, though, as Sacramento averaged less than 30 wins per season during his time there.
The big man appeared on the most recent episode of the Straight Game podcast, and he was asked by host Mike Bibby what he felt about the possibility of the Kings retiring his jersey.
“Obviously it would be an honor,” Cousins said. “That was something that I definitely wanted and strived for as far as why I tried to go out and perform every single night. Accolade-wise, I feel like I did all the right things while I was in that jersey … As far as All-Stars, as far as All-NBA selections, numbers, gold medals.
“I put my work in, I think I earned my stripes,” he continued. “Obviously it’s a political thing, but as far as the work being done, I think I did what needed to be done to join the others in the rafters.
Those others that Cousins mentioned include Tiny Archibald, Oscar Robertson, Mitch Richmond and others. Interestingly, it doesn’t include Bibby, who was the point guard of the team in the early 2000s, a.k.a. the most successful time in franchise history since the Kings moved to Sacramento.
Bibby’s former teammates Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic have all had their numbers retired already, and there’s no excuse for him not to be there too. Cousins had better raw numbers, but the franchise was a laughingstock and a perennial loser when he was there.
Bibby played nearly the exact same amount of games in Sacramento as Cousins did, but his teams were contenders and the biggest threat to the Shaq-Kobe Lakers. Cousins has an argument to have his jersey retired, but Bibby has a better one.
