DeMarcus Cousins going ahead with his appeal against suspension even after serving penalty – NBA News
The NBA players association has decided to continue his appeal against a suspension handed out to DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings for an incident that took place on Friday night when the San Antonio Spurs travelled to
Sacramento. The association is appealing on the behalf of Cousins, who got involved in an altercation with Spurs announcer after the Kings loss to the Spurs on Friday night, and was handed a two game penalty by the league.
Cousins has since served his two game penalty by missing the games against the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles, and the Portland Trail Blazers at home. He, however, is looking forward to reclaiming the $70,500 salary he lost
as a result of his two game suspension.
“We believe that a two-game suspension is excessive and unwarranted. We recognize the Commissioner's desire to discourage confrontations between players and members of the media, but he needs to exercise more subtlety and discretion
in ascertaining and examining the specific facts and circumstances before handing down such heavy-handed discipline,” said the Union on Wednesday through a statement released to the public.
Cousins issued a statement through his agent, John Greig, in which he expressed his remorse for the role he played in the incident and apologized to the Kings fans, his teammates and his coaching staff for his actions.
“Despite believing the penalty (is) unwarranted, I want to apologize to the Sacramento Kings, our fans and especially to my coaches and teammates for this distraction of our goals,” said Cousins.
Cousins has a history of confrontations with his coaching staff as well as opponents, dating back to his time with Kentucky. Last season, he clashed on a number of occasions with former Kings coach Paul Westphal, who was fired
after the team started the season with a 2-5 record. The number five pick by the Kings from the 2010 NBA Draft, Cousins is a key ingredient to the team’s rebuilding efforts and is looked upon as the future of the franchise. This season, he is so far averaging
17.3 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. His team, however, has started with a 2-6 record, the worst in the Western Conference.
Tags: