The Sacramento Kings' trade of DeMarcus Cousins was shocking in so many ways, that most of us will look back at this deal and remember exactly where we were when we heard the news -- I was at California Adventure about to board California Screamin', a roller coaster with a fitting name for just about every Kings fan.
Days later, it's still difficult to believe that the Kings gave up on a player the caliber of Cousins for so little.
With Cousins now in New Orleans sharing the frontcourt with Anthony Davis, everything changes. For one, it's reasonable to expect both of their usage rates to slip from their current rates; Cousins (26.7) and Davis (27.3) both ranked in the top 10 heading into the All-Star break.
Lower usage and questions of how the ball will be distributed between the two drop both in the rankings this week, with Davis falling to No. 6 and Cousins to 14. Jrue Holiday, who averaged 21.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals in the 10 games leading up to the break, will also likely be negatively impacted from a fantasy perspective. Formerly the second scoring option in this New Orleans Pelicans offense, he now becomes a distant third and drops to 49 this week after moving all the way up to 39 a week ago.
Other Pelicans forwards, like Terrence Jones and Donatas Motiejunas, become even less relevant in fantasy and can be safely dropped in your leagues. Jones, in fact, falls out of the 150.
On the other side of the deal, Buddy Hield re-enters the rankings at 126th as a member of the Kings, who were said to have been enamored with him back on draft day. Hield should see a heavy dose of minutes on his new team, but his inefficiency and lack of impact outside of scoring and 3-point shooting limits his fantasy upside as a rookie, even when given lots of playing time.
Tyreke Evans returns to the place where he was crowned Rookie of the Year in 2009 and should be a bigger part of the offense with the Kings than he was with the Pelicans. He played at least 25 minutes in his final two games before the break and could see a heavier workload on his new team too. He moves up to No. 103 this week.
Other Kings with improving stock following this deal -- if they aren't also traded before Thursday's traded deadline -- include Darren Collison (94) and Willie Cauley-Stein (136). The veteran point guard and second-year center will be counted on for big roles over the final months of the season, with Collison becoming one of the team's primary scoring options along with Hield and Cauley-Stein, joining Kosta Koufos (147) as the only real big men available to replace Cousins.
The other big mover this week is Robert Covington (67), who has been playing like a top-50 player in recent weeks (16.3 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 3.1 SPG in his last seven games). He was ranked too low in previous weeks, and I've adjusted accordingly this week. Kelly Olynyk (100), Frank Kaminsky III (121) and Channing Frye (122) are three others to move up.
