The Los Angeles Lakers are apparently keen on trading for Sacramento Kings' star DeMarcus Cousins, according to ESPN. Mitch Kupchak and his gang are said to be "actively pursuing trade scenarios" to try and form a transaction that would persuade the Kings' management to deal Cousins.

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Recently, Kings' vice president and new chief decision-maker Vlade Divac quipped that they will only swap Cousins if Michael Jordan was available. It was thought of as a joke, but he had been firm that they would never trade their top player.

Divac told Ailene Voisin of The Sacramento Bee that trading their 24-year-old All-Star center "is not happening." The former Sacramento and Los Angeles slotman admitted that they are planning to make a smaller deal before Thursday's draft, but not as big as everyone expects.

However, rumors abound that the Lakers, Kings, and the Orlando Magic have already had exploratory talks with regards to a possible three-team exchange that would land Cousins to the Lakers, Magic's young center Nikola Vucevic and Los Angeles' no. 2 pick to the Kings, and draft picks to Orlando. So far, nothing was announced as official yet.

What is interesting about this whole scenario is the insistence of current Sacramento head coach George Karl to part with their prized center, which the owners have reportedly not approved of. Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski indicated that Karl had been convincing Divac and some key players on the roster to support him in presenting the Cousins scenario to King's owner Vivek Ranadive.

It was also reported that the former Kentucky standout was already aware of Karl's desire to trade him away since April. This might pose a big problem once training camp starts and could be even worse when the team enters the new season.

Together with Divac, Ranadive had been adamant that he wants Cousins to stay in Sacramento and there were stories that the owner was annoyed by Karl's claim that he could never work with their franchise player's allegedly huge ego.

Karl had the front office backing him up about trading away Cousins, but no one among its members is said to be comfortable about pushing any deal without the official blessing of Ranadive.

TagsNBA 2015, NBA news, NBA News 2015, NBA rumors, NBA Rumors 2015, NBA Trade Rumors, NBA trade rumors 2015, DeMarcus Cousins, sacramento kings, Los Angeles Lakers