DeMarcus Cousins, Shaquille O'Neal New Protege, Loves New Owners, Calls Playing For Maloof Brothers Like AAU [VIDEO]

The Sacramento Kings have new ownership and with that apparently comes a new DeMarcus Cousins.

According to ProBasketballTalk.com, new owner Vivek Randive described Wednesday night's season-opener against Denver "a celebration of a team and community that came together and fought to keep the team."

And Cousins made certain the night was memorable for all the right reasons, leading the Kings to a 90-88 win on the strength of his game highs of 30 points and 14 rebounds.

It's a sign of things to come, assured Cousins, who added the difference between now and the team's old owners seems like night and day. "It felt like an AAU team," Cousins says of the time he's spent with the organization under the ownership of the Maloof brothers.

"It felt like an AAU team," he told ProBasketballTalk. "Everything critics were saying before, I believe it's true. We were the worst. We weren't building for the future, we were just living in the moment. That's why we were that bad. Honestly, I feel like I wasted time."

With team minority owner and Hall of Fame bound big man Shaquille O'Neal having vowed to personally take him under his wing, those days now seem a thing of the past.

"I hate the fact that it took everything we went through to get to this," Cousins added. "I guess you could say it makes it that much better."

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