The bad news for the Mavericks about the blockbuster deal that will ship DeMarcus Cousins to New Orleans is that they only play the Kings one more time this season _ at Sacramento on April 4.
If they had three more meetings with the league's newest worst team _ and that's covering some ground _ they might have a fighting chance at climbing up the Western Conference standings.
This deal essentially confirms the Mavericks' reservation at the lottery table in May.
It's time to give up the pipe dream of chasing the playoffs _ which, by the way, Mark Cuban and his management team probably did weeks ago. Keep playing the younger talent as much as you can without insulting your proud veterans. But this really has turned into "one of those seasons."
And it's not necessarily a bad thing that the Mavericks didn't get out of the batter's box, much less to first base, when it came to flirtations about Cousins. As immense as his talent is, sometimes, other considerations jump out.
An old NBA general manager from back in the '90s once told me that talent trumps everything in the league. If Jack the Ripper could get him 20 and 10 every night, the GM said, he'd be in uniform today.
That's not necessarily the standard operating procedure with the Mavericks, who definitely made inquiries about the Cousins situation over the course of the past week or two.
No tires go unkicked in this league.
"We talked to them," owner Mark Cuban said. "When we did they told us they weren't trading him."
This one would have been a huge gamble _ and let's be frank, the Mavericks probably didn't possess the assets that the Kings would have wanted unless Harrison Barnes was involved with many other young players and picks.
When the Kings came through Dallas in early December and destroyed the Mavericks, Cousins had 24 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and hit both of his 3-pointers. That's a huge game and the Kings won by 31.
A friend of mine who is a huge Mavericks' fan was in the stands that night and said after the game: "I don't like Cousins. His body language is awful."
Asked if he would like Cousins a lot better in a Mavericks' uniform, he said: "No thanks. More trouble than he's worth."
That's what the Kings finally decided.
Yes, Rick Carlisle probably could have made it work. The Mavericks don't have any real head cases in the locker room right now. You can handle one knucklehead, as the saying goes. Any more than that and it's like putting too many jalapenos in the recipe. And Cousins is one of the rare NBA players who has been suspended for having too many technical fouls. He's a hothead. And his presence in the locker room would require periodic massaging.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks are lottery bound. They will see Cousins and the Pelicans on Saturday at American Airlines Center. New Orleans suddenly is the favorite to pick off the eighth spot in the West playoff seedings. Denver also will remain in the running.
The Mavericks? They are three games behind Denver, currently eighth in the West. They also trail the Pelicans, Kings and Blazers. That's too many teams to leapfrog, especially when two of them have added nice pieces (Cousins to the Pels, Mason Plumlee to the Nuggets).
Time for the Mavericks to start watching those top college players even more closely than they have been for the last couple months.
