Vlade Divac has taken a lot of criticism since trading DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans just over a week ago. But to his credit, the Sacramento Kings GM hasn’t shied away from criticism or the media. At times, such as stating he had a better offer two days before actually making the trade, Vlade’s candor has hurt him. There’s still an argument to be made for transparency, and in an interview with the Sacramento Bee’s Ailene Voison his candor takes minor steps towards restoring credibility. It’s a wide-ranging interview, so I highly encourage you to read the whole thing, but we’ll hit the highlights here.

Accountability

Vlade throws down the gauntlet on himself. He takes responsibility for the trade and gives us a timeframe with which to judge him on it. And while I don’t necessarily believe Vlade’s insistence that Vivek Ranadivé had no involvement, I actually can agree with Vlade here. He’s made a big move, and in the aftermath many of us have called for Vlade to be replaced. I’ve been in that chorus. But it’s fair to wait and see how this all plays out.

A better deal two days ago

This is still something Vlade should have kept to himself. He doesn’t come out looking good by admitting he lost the negotiations, but he saves some face by acknowledging that it was negotiations with the Pelicans, and not that there was another mystery team with a better deal available.

Why now?

I’ve heard this echoed in the past week from connected reporters around the league. There’s no doubt that Cousins was an issue. For years I’ve heard that there were things happening that never got reported.

So why not earlier?

Yes, it’s easy to look smart after the fact, but that doesn’t change the fact that this whole ordeal was handled sloppily at best, incompetently at worst.

In whole, I don’t think this changes how anyone is going to feel about the trade or how it was handled, but it does shed some light on the topic. We may disagree with how the Kings handled things, but we know how they’re justifying those actions. That’s something, I suppose.

What do you think? Does this article change your opinion of the trade or Vlade at all?