DeMarcus Cousins trade talk has been the subject of many rumors. One story in particular involves a trade that could have made Cousins millions of dollars richer.
While Cousins was traded to the New Orleans Hornets, we are going to look at another rumored trade that didn’t happen.
DeMarcus Cousins Trade Could Have Made Him Millions of Dollars Richer
The potential trade was between Cousins’ current team, the Sacramento Kings, and the Orlando Magic. According to Bleacher Report, the Kings offered Cousins to the Magic in exchange for a handful of players, and Orlando declined.
Orlando Magic reportedly turned down a trade for DeMarcus Cousins earlier this season @verizon pic.twitter.com/THA55atJlU
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 17, 2017
Had the deal gone through, it would have saved Cousins millions of dollars in taxes. Sacramento is located in the state of California, which has the highest state income tax in the United States at 7.75 percent. Cousins’ current contract with the Kings, which runs through the 2017-18 season, will pay him over $35 million for this season and next. At the current California rate, Cousins will pay around $2.71 million in state income tax on that amount.
Florida, which is the state that Orlando calls home, has no state income tax. Had the trade gone through, Cousins would have been able to save a substantial part of the money that he will now still have to pay the state of California.
While a trade that could send Cousins out of California to another state is still possible, it doesn’t seem likely at this point. Sacramento general manager Vlade Divac has stated that the team isn’t going to trade Cousins, and that the Kings hope he will be in Sacramento for a long time. As his free agency gets nearer and nearer, it could make more and more sense for the team to back off of Divac’s commitment and get something for him while they can.
If the rumors about the Magic offer are true, that would directly contradict Divac’s statement. Either way, the real loser in that scenario is Cousins’ bank account.
