Cleveland Cavaliers trade rumors 2016: Eyeing big swoop for Kings stars?

Martin Martinez Thursday, September 15, 2016

It is not often that two teams go through a trade and switch star players. Often, one team gets a superstar while the other gets a few prospects and some other role players in return.

However, this rumor reported by Sports Rageous does exactly that â€” two teams could be trading the stars they currently have.

DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings. | Wikimedia Commons / Mike

According to the report, the Sacramento Kings and the Cleveland Cavaliers are eyeing a trade that would send DeMarcus Cousins and Rudy Gay to the Cavs, while Tristan Thompson and Kevin Love will move to Sacramento.

If this materializes, this is going to be a spectacular trade between the two teams as they are giving away their top players in hopes of immediately improving in the coming year. This is very surprising for the Cavaliers as they are heading into the new season as the defending champions.

Despite LeBron James and Kyrie Irving getting the bulk of the attention, Love and Thompson undoubtedly contributed to the team during their successful run last season.

For Thompson, this holds true as he plays the undersized center for the team when needed. Given that he had a good finals series, it is surprising to see his name on the trading block.

However, the report stating that the Cavaliers can get Cousins and Gay are difficult to ignore.

Gay is a premiere scorer in the league and an excellent two-way player who gives great defense as well. Meanwhile, Cousins is widely considered the best pure center in the league and is not afraid to be physical down the block.

Numbers do not lie as Cousins had a stellar season last year. He averaged 26.9 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists for the Kings. And his growing frustration with the team as they have failed to put a winning combination around him might bring him to a point where he wants to leave the team.

Joining a talented championship squad should immediately give Cousins the chance to win the title at such a young age and continue establishing his name as the best center in the league.