With The Most Empty Promise Of All Time, Vlade Divac Said He'll Step Down If The Boogie Trade Doesn't Work Out

Uproxx-  Divac spoke with Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee following the trade deadline in an extensive interview about the Cousins trade and more. Divac explained his comments that the Kings actually had a better offer two days prior to the Pelicans trade, insisting it was Cousins’ camp which drove the price down from two first rounders to a first and a second.

He also did the one thing an executive should never do. Publicly say he’ll step down if the trade doesn’t work out for the Kings’ betterment in two years. 

“That’s my job, and I take responsibility. And I totally understand why some fans would be upset. They supported DeMarcus, and I like DeMarcus a lot. But I believe we are going to be in a better position in two years. I want to hear again from these same people in two years. If I’m right, great. If I’m wrong, I’ll step down. But if I go down, I’m going down my way.”

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In my "expert" opinion, it is not wise for the General Manager of the most incompetent franchise in all of professional sports to stake his job security to a lop-sided trade that saw him lose (far and away) his best player for well below market value. I guess I really have nothing to base that assessment off of other than my own common sense. However, risking one of thirty jobs as the Vice President of an NBA team on a transaction that got you ruthlessly roasted by the entire sports world seems like a good way to prime your mouth for the foot that was just recently removed from it after you offered  the public unnecessary knowledge of the better offer you had two days prior. 

That said, this "guarantee" that has absolutely no details attached to it isn't anywhere near as dangerous as it seems. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Vlade Divac's definition of "a better position" doesn't exactly match up with that of his fans. The Kings could very easily be rocking a worse record in two seasons, but if people aren't making them the butt of every joke then technically one could rationalize that they are in "a better position". What I am saying is that -  despite sitting just outside the playoffs in a top heavy Western Conference - there's nowhere to go for the Kings to go but up....and that includes going down and guaranteeing themselves their own top 10 protected draft pick. In the eyes of every one of his peers, Vlade Divac is basically walking around being viewed as red nose wearing, chain smoking, physically imposing Serbian clown and you can argue that literally any position is better than the one that he and his organization are in right now.