Shaq will mentor DeMarcus Cousins for Sacramento Kings

Sam Amick | USA TODAY Sports

So now that new Sacramento Kings minority owner Shaquille O'Neal has taken on the task of mentoring DeMarcus Cousins, that has to be a sign that a contract extension is coming for the mercurial 23-year-old center, right?

"I don't want to say anything premature, but I've been constant in my support for DeMarcus," new Kings owner Vivek Ranadive told USA TODAY Sports. "I reached out to him when we first closed the deal. He was the first person I reached out to. They're out there practicing on their own every day, and he's out there leading those practices. He's out there with the team practicing every single day by themselves. They all came to Sacramento early. I don't know if that's ever happened. So 'Dr. O'Neal' and I are going to have dinner with him on Monday night, and Dr. O'Neal is going to spend a couple of days with him and the team. So I'm very, very pleased with everything that I'm seeing."

As O'Neal begins his unexpected tenure with his former rival team, he has one goal on top of his to-do list: to make Cousins the most feared big man in the game. Neither Ranadive or O'Neal was willing to offer clarity on the extension that can be agreed upon up to the Oct. 31 deadline, but it continues to be clear that Cousins is a major priority for the new regime that took over after Ranadive and his group bought the team for a league-record $535 million valuation in late May. If an extension is not agreed upon, Cousins would become a restricted free agent next summer and - if only because his long-term future would appear uncertain - likely spend much of this season as the topic of trade rumors.

O'Neal, however, plans on leaving the business to Ranadive while focusing on the basketball.

"You hear people say all the time that he's probably the most talented big man in the league, so now if you've got that behind your name, then everything else must follow," O'Neal told USA TODAY Sports. "I'm going to teach him a few things to add to his game."

Cousins has quickly become one of the biggest enigmas in the game, a widely-respected talent whose penchant for outbursts and clashes with coaches have marred his first three seasons in the league.But O'Neal, who held the title he wants Cousins to have for most of his 19-year career, sees the potential for Cousins to take his torch. The two have no prior relationship, but they have spoken by phone since an agreement was reached for O'Neal to become a Kings minority owner.

"DeMarcus is so excited at just the thought that (Shaq) is going to be talking to him, going to be spending time with him, going to be watching him, on the practice court, that he just can't contain himself," Ranadive said. "When he first heard that (Shaq) was looking at becoming an investor in the Kings, he just texted me and said, 'Can I please, please reach out to (Shaq)?'"

USA TODAY Sports' Sam Amick talks Shaq and the Kings USA TODAY Sports' NBA insider Sam Amick talks to News10's Sean Cunningham about the Sacramento Kings' new minority owner, Shaquille O'Neal, and the impact he will have on the team and NBA.

As O'Neal discussed at length, the work they do between the ears will be even more important than the work they do between the lines. It's the beginning, he hopes, of a powerful pairing. O'Neal has strong views on his new minority ownership endeavor and on Cousins. Here are some of his comments on the young Kings big man.

On how he got better in his playing days, and what he can pass on:

"What took my game to the next level wasn't practicing, it was conversation. What took my game to the next level was conversation with (former Lakers general manager) Jerry West, and conversation with (former Lakers coach) Phil Jackson. You know, you can go in the gym all day and do a hundred moves, but it's the conversation. Jerry West believed in me, and he was like, 'Hey, look up Shaq, your jersey will be up there someday.' So now I was like, 'I've got to step my game up.' And then conversations with Phil, who's saying, 'Shaq, I know you're doing movies and doing rap, but if you put that down this year I guarantee you I'll get you MVP.' So we're going to be having conversations and I'm going to stay on him. When you're good, and you're becoming great, expectations are high. But if you're well prepared, then you can meet any expectation."

On how he sees Cousins' game:

"I like his game. I like his ferocity. And he hates to lose. When you have those ingredients, like I said it's all about conversation. I was putting up big numbers and couldn't win anything. We'd get swept by Utah every year, and then all it took was one or two conversations — one time I heard Larry Bird say, 'You're the greatest big man ever. It's just conversations. We're going to have nice, light-hearted conversations. I'm going to teach him one or two things that I think he can do better.

"I'm not going to try to change his game — I like his game. But he's the leader on our team, so I'll talk to him about leadership and good examples. I'll talk to him about doing things a certain way and doing things consistent. First thing I'm going to say to him is, 'How many points do you want to average?' And hopefully he says 26 or 27, and I'm going to show him an easy way of how to get that and get it every night and expect it and want it and go for that every night. And then I'll also have a conversation with him about how to make his teammates better. I would like to see Sacramento back where it used to be."

On how he plans to help Cousins:

"I used to do a million drills I never needed, and then do one or two things that – for example, Dominique Wilkins told me, 'Shaq, don't try to score all 28 (points) in the first half, you're going to tire yourself out for the second half. Seven points a quarter — three jump hooks and a free throw.'

"The way I'm going to evaluate him is I'm going to evaluate him four times a year, every 20 games. 'OK, what are you doing? You need to do this. You need to do that.' I can't teach him everything, and I don't want to teach him everything. He has a fabulous game, so it's all about the conversation. We're all going to look at him now like, 'Hey, you're the man. You want to be the man. Let's do it.' He's going to do it. He's ready. He's going to get some guys around him and be young and exciting."