And for weeks, DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings couldn’t get it right. The Kings were supposed to play the role of upstart this season and Cousins was poised to finally assume his position as the best true big man in basketball and perhaps enter the fray of potential Kia MVP candidates.

It didn’t happen.

A 1-7 and drama-filled start to this season relegated Cousins and the Kings to the fringes, a disaster waiting to happen as Cousins, coach George Karl and Rajon Rondo figured out whose will would rule the roost. The drama is still there (Rondo’s dust up with Bill Kennedy) and there’s no guarantee it will dissipate anytime soon, but Cousins cannot be denied any longer.

He is every bit the best big man in the NBA and the Kings, 9-8 since that brutal start, are poised to benefit from it. They’ve won three straight games with Cousins dominating and sit in the pack of teams — Utah, Phoenix and Portland — just outside of the top eight in the Western Conference playoff chase.

A four-game road swing before Christmas, a trip that includes stops at Minnesota Friday (8 ET, NBA League Pass) , Toronto Sunday (6 ET, NBA League Pass), Washington Monday (7 ET, NBA League Pass) and ending in Indiana Dec. 23 (7 ET, NBA League Pass), serves as the latest (and perhaps most critical) test of the resolve of Cousins and the Kings.

Call him crazy, and plenty of people will, but Karl believes his team is ready to handle it and poised for bigger and better things. If he’s right, they’ll have to feed off of a focused and forceful Cousins serving as their catalyst.

“I say this all the time. People think I’m crazy, but there are a lot of NBA teams who play good basketball who don’t win,” Karl told the Sacramento Bee. “Everybody thinks when you lose you’re bad, but that’s not necessarily the case. We had our chaotic mentality a little bit, the frustration that comes with losing, comes with expectations. I’m proud of how we fought through it, how we sustained, balanced the crazy.”

Managing that delicate balance the rest of the season, or at least for the foreseeable future, will be critical for Cousins. His name will no doubt surface in the traderumors between now and the February dealing deadline. And given his recent history and the Kings’ volatile nature, there is surely more drama that will have to be dealt with in one way or another.

But even if he was a bit tardy to start this season, the best big man in the game can no longer be denied.

Cousins belongs on any list of the league’s best.

The Top 10 in this week’s KIA Race to the MVP Ladder:

1. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors

Last week’s ranking: No. 1

2. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers

Last week’s ranking: No. 2

With Kyrie Irving, Mo Williams and Iman Shumpert all out of the lineup Thursday night against Oklahoma City, LeBron showed once again why he’s the ultimate facilitator in the league. He worked the Thunder for a game-high 33 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds to power the Cavaliers’ fourth quarter rally (and win). The Cavaliers have won four straight and are drafting off of the energy and effort of the four-time MVP while also awaiting the season debut for Irving. LeBron’s December work (28.6 points on 51 percent shooting, 8.0 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.2 blocks) checks all the boxes.

3. Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City Thunder

Last week’s ranking: No. 4

4. Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs

Last week’s ranking: No. 5

Four straight wins and four straight games with Leonard doing his MVP thing for the Spurs as he and LaMarcus Aldridge continue to assert themselves as the team’s new dynamic duo (no disrespect to Tim Duncan and Tony Parker, of course). Coach Gregg Popovich has no problem prioritizing certain guys in the Spurs’ throwback attack and Leonard is at the epicenter of this current plan, serving as the catalyst on both ends of the floor these days. How he uses him against the Clippers tonight (8 ET, ESPN) should be most entertaining.

5. Paul George, Indiana Pacers

Last week’s ranking: No. 2

6. Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder

Last week’s ranking: No. 6

Durant looked like he was ready for a classic duel with LeBron James in the first half (16 points) Thursday night in Cleveland only to cool off after halftime in a game the Thunder could never get control of when it mattered most. Durant finished with 25 points (on 7-for-17 shooting, 2-for-6 from beyond the 3-point line) but had more turnovers (four) than rebounds (three) to go along with his five assists as the Thunder saw their six-game win streak come to an end. It certainly doesn’t help that Durant’s touch from deep, he’s made just six of his last 22 shots from beyond the 3-point line, is off right now.

7. Jimmy Butler, Chicago Bulls

Last week’s ranking: No. 8

Butler is doing a fantastic job of not allowing the drama swirling around his backcourt mate Derrick Rose to have any impact on his game and demeanor. Some young stars might struggle in a similar circumstance, but not Butler, who worked while ill in a win over the Memphis Grizzlies and still managed to grind out 38 minutes and 24 points Wednesday night at United Center. A Friday night date against the Detroit Pistons (8 ET, NBA League Pass) and a surging Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is up next for the hardest working man in the Windy City.

8. Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers

Last week’s ranking: No. 9

Why the Clippers don’t play more through Griffin remains one of the most mind-boggling developments of this season. When he’s the focus of their offense he’s been a machine, as he was in Monday’s win over Detroit (34 points on 15-for-30 shooting, seven assists and five rebounds). He was solid (15 points, eight rebounds and five assists) in Wednesday’s win over Milwaukee and is averaging 22.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.4 assists in his last 10 games. But the Clippers need him playing at an elite level tonight if they have any chance of winning in San Antonio.

9. James Harden, Houston Rockets

Last week’s ranking: No. 10

Few players in basketball can compartmentalize the way Harden has this season. He didn’t let the firing of coach Kevin McHale change his stripes and has weathered this latest Dwight Howard drama without missing a step. And the Rockets need their best player to keep the blinders on and to keep on firing away. The Lakers were his latest victim, he shredded Kobe Bryant and Co. for 25 points,six assists and six rebounds in Thursday night’s nightcap on TNT as the Rockets snapped a two-game skid. If Howard is indeed unhappy with his role playing second fiddle to Harden, and for the record the big man swears the rumblings are not true, he better learn from the best in the business at ignoring the outside noise.

10. DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento Kings

Last week’s ranking: Not ranked

The Kings have won three straight games and Cousins has lived up to his “best big man in the game” moniker in all of them, posting double-doubles in each outing and four straight overall. Overall, he’s averaging 25.3 points and 11.7 rebounds during that stretch. Cousins stated his case with an emphatic performance (26 points, 12 rebounds, two steals a block) in the Kings’ Tuesday night win over the Houston Rockets and the big man (Dwight Howard) who used to own that aforementioned label. And make no mistake, the Kings go as Cousins goes (he’s scoring 9.2 more points per game in the nine wins they’ve piled up with him in the lineup than the eight losses with him in the mix).

Others Receiving Consideration: Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors; Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks; Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors; Andre Drummond, Detroit Pistons; Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers

Sekou Smith is a staff writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter.

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