Getty DeMarcus Cousins of the Golden State Warriors.
Coming off a rehab year after his Achilles’ tear, the injury bug wasn’t kind to DeMarcus Cousins as he suffered another setback by tearing his quad in the playoffs. While Cousins would return to action later in the Warriors playoff run, he wouldn’t look quite the same.
Cousins had started looking stronger as the season progressed and despite clearly losing a step after his brutal injury, plays with a level of skill and finesse where most felt his rehab was coming along just fine before his quad injury struck.
In a free agent market that has already seen a number of teams spend the majority of their free cap space to secure quality role players, Cousins still sits available waiting for a team to swoop in. However, that may be longer than expected as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported some rather unfortunate news regarding the talented big man’s market.
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Lakers May Have Free Agency Path to Stealing DeMarcus Cousins
According to @wojespn, There is currently no market at the moment for Demarcus Cousins.
There’s no market even at MLE he stated.
Woj went on SportsCenter to talk about free agency updates and dropped a mention that the market for Cousins might be drying up – even possibly non-existent. Especially if teams are unwilling to even take a flier using the Mid Level Exception to Cousins, it opens the door of a real possibility for the Lakers to swoop in and add him at an extremely reasonable price on what one can only presume will be a one-year deal.
If Woj’s report is true, Cousins will have experienced an astronomical drop in value since his days on the Sacramento Kings. Once a target for a max contract and a perennial All-Star (as well as being a two time All-NBA second teamer), Cousins may have to take another, smaller “prove it” deal in order to try and convince a team that he’s worth a long term investment.
DeMarcus Cousins Lakers Team Fit
When at his best, DeMarcus Cousins is a perfect fit for the Lakers offense. Last season showed he could contribute positive minutes in a star-laden environment and his skill set is one that few big men possess. Capable of stretching the floor and knocking down the deep ball while having a brutalizing, yet graceful interior game, Cousins is an offensive force at full strength. When you factor in his above average passing from the post and proven history playing alongside Anthony Davis, you have a mix that could potentially be an incredible fit.
However, all of this hinges on the fact that Cousins returns to full health after his latest injury. While he may never be the same player he was prior to the Achilles’ injury, many of those skills should still translate over and make him an extremely useful complementary star to what is shaping up to be an utterly loaded Lakers roster.