Getty DeMarcus Cousins #0 of the Golden State Warriors falls to the crowd after injuring himself against the LA Clippers during Game Two of the first round of the 2019 NBA Western Conference Playoffs.
Last night just wasn’t a good night for Golden State. Not only did they blow a 31-point second-half lead at home to lose Game Two to the Clippers. They also lost starting center DeMarcus Cousins to a torn quad, which was confirmed by Shams Charania of The Athletic.
During the first quarter of their game against the Los Angeles Clippers, center DeMarcus Cousins was chasing down a pass and went down grabbing his leg.
After remaining on the ground for a short period, he got up slowly and limped back to the locker room. Here’s a look at the play, courtesy of NBC Sports Bay Area.
Boogie went back to the locker room after this play with apparent leg injury.
Cousins will enter the free agency market this summer after signing a 1-year, $5.38 million contract before the 2018-19 season. His previous contracts were in the 8-figure range, but other injuries have decreased his value down into the 7-figure area this year.
With last night’s injury, do those concerns continue for the 28-year old vet? Let’s take a look a potential landing spots for next season.
DeMarcus Cousins Free Agency Landing Spots & Destinations
If there’s any evidence the 4-time All-Star’s value is dropping, Dan Favale of Bleacher Report doesn’t even consider him a top-12 free agent entering this offseason. That’s behind players like Milwaukee’s Khris Middleton or Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic.
While it’s almost cliche at this point to inclue them, the Lakers would be a realistic option. The now-departed Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka put together a roster for LeBron James that featured several 1-year contracts to veterans with various injury risks. With Cousins probably only set to cost at most $5 million, his skillset is worth the financial risk.
In addition, as Ralph Orense of ClutchPoints notes, Cousins would mesh well with James’ game.
Boogie would be able to fit in with LeBron James, who, throughout his career, has always been a great passer. Now, imagine if Cousins is the one who’s catching those alley-oop passes instead of JaVale McGee. He’s still a significantly better player compared to all of the Lakers’ centers right now, and he’s coming off a torn Achilles.
There’s a growing sense that Cousins wants to play in a major market, such as Los Angeles (for either team) or New York. JB Baruelo of Inquistr writes:
After the Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers (19.4 percent) and the New York Knicks (13.9 percent) received the second and third highest votes from the ESPN Forecast panel to become DeMarcus Cousins’ next landing spot. Unlike the Lakers who will only have one max slot, the Clippers and the Knicks could create enough salary cap space to sign two incoming free agent superstars in the summer of 2019.
Considering that the Warriors signed Cousins to such a short contract, the presumption there is that management wanted to see how he would fit on the roster and how healthy he could be. With the torn quad, it would be surprising (to me) if the Warriors went with Boogie again.
With that in mind, here’s a “shooting from the hip” prediction that Cousins will end up on a financially reactive franchise such as the Lakers or Knicks.