Enough is enough, ESPN

GM Vlade Divac taking questions after Cousins trade. (Courtesy: ESPN)

During a span of a few years at the beginning of the millennium, the Kings were not only the most exciting to watch but arguably the best team in the league. Crowds came in sellout numbers to watch the magic and excitement that “The Greatest Show on Court” brought. Jason Williams/Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, Peja Stojakovic, Chris Webber, and Vlade Divac all brought an exciting brand of basketball on a nightly basis that deeply resembled a rock star reception from every city they went to, including extra tour stops at our beloved Arco Arena. This magical team’s chemistry faced an immediate uphill battle against the Lakers, featuring Kobe and Shaq. Unfortunately, this uphill battle was too much to get through as the Lakers defeated the Kings, most notably in the 2002 Western Conference Finals.

(I know, don’t get me started. It sadly still happened though, guys).

Nonetheless, the team’s magic slowly crumbled as Webber got injured and the rest of the team just got old and/or got traded. It happens to all great teams. Organizations build marvelous teams that eventually fall apart, forcing these organizations to rebuild. The important part of rebuilding is picking the key players to help solidify the team’s identity and building another great team to bring dominance back on the court. Sadly, the Kings’ rebuilding has taken, let’s just say, longer than it should.

A recent history of absolutely horrible picks amounts to an organization facing dysfunction and constant losing seasons for years. How could we forget the Kings drafting Thomas Robinson at #5 back in 2015 to eventually trade him later that incoming season? Good times. It also hurts more to see who was drafted the next pick after Robinson by the Trail Blazers. Some guy named Damien Lillard. Yikes, that’s a big miss.

(Note: I thought the Robinson pick at the time was a good pick. It’s sad to see him constantly switching teams and not finding a true home).

Thomas Robinson shaking former NBA commissioner David Stern's hand as he gets drafted by the Kings. (Courtesy: Through the Phog)

Missed draft picks and horrible trades (see Isaiah Thomas) lead to the outside media to attack the Kings. ESPN constantly would cover the Kings as this joke of a franchise that was just another team in the league, with good reasons. But over the past year, the attacks have been unfair. Most recently, the DeMarcus Cousins trade was a trade that ESPN really took joy to make fun of the Kings for. This trade was an emotional roller coaster for Kings’ fans as DeMarcus was a player near and dear to our hearts. Whether you supported the trade or despise the trade, it is unfair to attack the Kings for what they got back in the trade because it is “not the value Cousins is worth”. Of course, Cousins is an all-star caliber player, but it is also hard to ignore his resume of technical fouls and off the court issues. However, the Kings made the best possible trade they could make at the time.

(I know, they had a better trade a few days earlier. You can thank DeMarcus’ agent for that one).

But that’s beside the fact. Following days after the trade, the national media, not just ESPN, attacked the Kings. Every show that talked NBA discussed how much of a steal it was for New Orleans due to how much they had to give up. Everyone considered the Pelicans the winner of the draft, even some calling it “one of the worst trades of the last fifteen years”, according to a list made by Caleb Su of Complex Sports. Quite harsh and unfair to say the least.

Do you know what other trade was considered a steal? Boston Celtics trading Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and the always lovely Jason Terry to the Brooklyn Nets for only a dumping of bad contracts and three first round picks and the right to swap in this year’s draft.

How did that work for you, Brooklyn?

Attacking a trade that involves pieces that will take years to establish itself is unfair and illogical. A trade like the Cousins trade will take many years to shape itself out and judging it now is complete nonsense.

The national media loves to attack the Kings when they do something that they perceive as silly. The Kings have the same problems facing the Cleveland Browns for the longest time in the NFL. People like to make fun of them when they perceive their actions as silly, but fail to acknowledge when they’ve done something correctly.

Many people go out of their way to make the Kings look bad, including ESPN’s own Chad Ford, who used a recycled quote from a unanimous quote from an article back in 2016 for his article that he posted on ESPN a few days ago.

He states that a unanimous agent in 2016, when describing the lack of excitement of bringing one of his clients to the Kings, told Chad Ford that:

“It would be malpractice to send one of my clients there”.

In the article Chad Ford posted a few days ago, the same unanimous agent is apparently also a robot that only knows one variety of a sentence, as the unanimous agent stated:

“It would be malpractice to let my clients play for them”.

(Yes, I know you need a paid subscription to access the link. And yes, I know I am silly for even having a subscription there. I have unsubscribed from there as I type this).

Chad Ford’s carelessness to not even tell the correct story is a disgrace to himself and the Kings organization that is fighting hard to escape the joke the kings have placed themselves into after years of losing and dysfunction. This hard work appears to slowly pay off, which has convinced the agent of incoming draftee Josh Jackson from Kansas. The quote, which is in the article written by NBC California Kings Insider James Ham, has the agent B.J Armstrong (former NBA player), when asked if he would be willing for his client to go to the Kings stated:

All three Kings' first round draft picks (from left to right: Skal Labissiere, Malachi Richardson, and Georgios Papagiannis) from last years NBA draft taking a group rookie picture. (Courtesy: NBA)

“If other people see problems, we see enormous opportunity”.

An agent willing to bring his client to the Kings should be a wonderful sight for Kings fans and a sign the franchise is heading into the right step back to winning, but they’re still much left to go, including actually winning. With a young, talented core including Skal Labissiere, Buddy Hield, Malachi Richardson, Georgios Papagiannis, Willie Cauley-Stein, two first round draft picks in next month’s draft, and (possibly) Bogdan Bogdanovic (who the Kings acquired the draft rights to in last year draft night trade) coming from Europe, the future of the Kings certainly looks very optimistic.

Winning will provide the national media like ESPN to stop ignoring the positives the franchise does and gain the respect that our beloved Kings and our fan base have been dying for years to finally have. While the Kings have yet to actually provide a winning culture, the organization has made moves to try to establish not only an identity but a winning team that we have all wished for years to

have.