Starting off his press conference to discuss Sacramento trading All-Star DeMarcus Cousins to the New Orleans Pelicans, Kings general manager Vlade Divac joked with reporters Monday that he thought he would have a chair to sit on instead of standing to field their questions -- a harmless joke that got a chuckle from the assembled media. But it was something else that Divac said later on in his press conference that was far more amusing.

When pressed as to why the Kings decided to trade Cousins at this stage of the season, especially since the trade deadline is still a few days away and perhaps Sacramento could have received a better offer, Divac provided a forthright answer.

Divac very honestly said that the Kings had a better deal two days ago but it went away while Sacramento was considering it. So not wanting the same thing to happen again, Divac accepted the Pelicans’ offer of Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a 2017 first-round pick and a future second-round selection.

“Most likely we would get less,” Divac said. “Because I had a better deal two days ago.”

Divac’s admission stunned reporters, which lead to a brief moment of shocked silence. Another reporter then asked Divac to clarify if he meant that he had a better deal than the one the Kings received from the Pelicans.

“Yup,” Divac said. “I don’t want to go into details, I don’t want to discuss about the process. It was a big process for us. This was the best time and best offer for this critical time.”

Here’s video of Divac admitting that the Kings had a chance to get more for Cousins but essentially blew it:

Divac’s honesty is very strange, especially since throughout the press conference he said it was his decision to trade Cousins -- not Kings owner Vivek Ranadive. It points to his lack of experience as a team general manager and his inability to succeed in making a deal with opposing teams. 

Divac has made bad decisions in the past like trading Nik Stauskas and several picks just to get salary cap space, and his drafting history is littered with poor choices. And now it looks like, by Divac’s own admission, he made a less than stellar deal just so the Kings could rid themselves of Cousins.

Divac has had a steep learning curve since getting promoted to the team’s GM in 2015 and with his comments about the Cousins trade, he clearly still has a way to go before experiencing any real success in Sacramento.