Getty LeBron James, DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Los Angeles Lakers are waiving DeMarcus Cousins according to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
This news comes after Markieff Morris reached a buyout agreement with the Detroit Pistons and according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania will sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.
DeMarcus Cousins signed with the Lakers this offseason. He never played a minute of action for the Lakers and has been recovering from an offseason ACL tear in his left knee.
Million Dollar Question: Who will Boogie sign with next?
A popular opinion is the Miami Heat. “They don’t have a legitimate five,” a source shared with me.
“If he moves down there [Miami], he might lose 25 pounds. Pat Riley is old school.”
This is not the first time Miami and Cousins have been paired together on levels of supposeds. During summer free agency, there were mutual interests.
DeMarcus Cousins to Miami is the “hope” one person shared with me over the summer.
“An in shape DeMarcus is a healthy DeMarcus. I hope he goes there.”
Cousins ended up signing with the Lakers for more than the veteran minimum at $3.5 million, although it was also believed at the start of NBA free agency, that Boogie had interest from the New York Knicks. New York ended up signing Julius Randle.
Two summers ago, Cousins signed a one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors after a torn his Achilles suffered in January 2018, when he was a member of the New Orleans Pelicans.
In his final season with the Pelicans Boogie posted 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists.
Boogie missed the first three months of last season while rehabbing and made his Warriors debut last January. He played in 30 games for the Warriors and averaged 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.5 blocks and 1.3 steals.
Cousins, a four-time NBA All Star had never appeared in the NBA Playoffs until last season. He missed 14 NBA Playoff games, but did return to the Warriors’ lineup in time for the NBA Finals.
Once Cousins got injured, he went through an extensive rehab process.
In December and January, he was often spotted working out with Lakers assistant coach, Phil Handy before games.
Once Cousins got injured, the Lakers signed Dwight Howard to a non-guaranteed deal. “With DeMarcus [Cousins] going down it definitely hurt,” Anthony Davis told me this summer.
“But we picked up Dwight and we’ll see how it goes.”
Prior to this season, Howard, an 8-time NBA All-Star, had career averages of 17.4 points and 12.6 rebounds throughout his NBA career. “I think I’ve done an excellent job of playing basketball my whole life,” Howard told me in June.
“My resume is something that, you know, I don’t really have to speak for. I’m happy that I’ve had the opportunity to play basketball. So, I think I’ve done an excellent job of playing.”
This season, Howard is averaging 7.8 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game.