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Now that DeMarcus Cousins is officially a member of the Los Angeles Clippers—at least for the next 10 days, as Cousins inked a 10-day contract in L.A.—the major challenge for coach Tyronn Lue is trying to figure out how to deploy a big man who wants to play significant minutes in a rotation that probably only needs him for small spurts.
It won’t be easy. When healthy, the Clippers will have Ivica Zubac and Serge Ibaka ahead of Cousins on the depth chart at center, meaning he will get few, if any in some matchups, minutes on the floor. Ibaka has been out with a bad back, and that will open up some short-term time. But Zubac has played well as the starter and Cousins will have to settle for a backup role.
Cousins did not much like coming off the bench this year in Houston, one reason the Rockets let him go with an amicable buyout in February. Before this season, Cousins had started 543 of the 565 games he played in his NBA career and had not come off the bench since 2013.
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One of the driving factors in the buyout from Houston, according to ESPN, was Cousins’ unwillingness to come off the bench behind starter Christian Wood.
As ESPN’s Tim MacMahon wrote: “Sources said Cousins was not happy with his role as a backup center behind Christian Wood, wanting more playing time. Rockets coach Stephen Silas did not consider playing Wood and Cousins together, as he wants to use Wood solely as a center.”
Cousins Seeking to Reclaim Injury-Battered Career
Still, Cousins does need to play the part of the good soldier during his Clippers stint. He must persuade the Clippers to keep him on board beyond the 10-day contract and, hopefully, into the postseason, and to do that, he will almost assuredly accept whatever role L.A. gives him.
DeMarcus Cousins is officially a Clipper.
Cousins is only 30 but is trying to salvage his career, which has been derailed by injury going back to January 2018, when he tore his Achilles tendon while playing for the Pelicans, just before he was set to become a free agent. He made a so-so return with Golden State in 2018-19, signed with the Lakers that summer, and tore his ACL in the summer of 2019. He never played for the Lakers and was released in February 2020.
His showing in Houston does not instill much confidence in Cousins as he gets set to start his Clippers career. Cousins averaged 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds in 20.3 minutes with the Rockets, making only 37.6% of his shots from the field. Usually a strong finisher around the rim (he shot 62.1% from within three feet in his career), Cousins shot just 47.6% from that range in Houston, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
Can Cousins ‘Sit & Be OK?”
Still, Cousins makes for a pretty solid emergency-use center, should the Clippers have injuries to Zubac or Ibaka crop up. Patrick Patterson is in that role now, but he is a stretch-4, ill-suited to play in the middle.
Cousins could pitch in, but most likely, he will have to get accustomed to spending time on the bench. Clippers president Lawrence Frank talked about the need to fill in the remainder of the Clippers rosters with players who understood their roles and could be solid teammates even when not playing.
“Because if that person isn’t in the rotation, can that person sit and be OK?” Frank said, according to the L.A. Times. “Because anyone can play and be a good teammate. But if you’re not playing, we want to make sure we have really good chemistry in the locker room, and that’s a sanctuary.”
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Major Stumbling Block Confronts DeMarcus Cousins, Clippers: Playing Time