DeMarcus Cousins wants back in the NBA but is there a team for him?
It's less than two weeks before the first game of the NBA season, and former All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins still doesn't have a team. In an interview with Chris Haynes, Cousins admitted he'd made mistakes, but argued that the positives he brings a team outweigh the negatives. But does any NBA team feel the same way?
Cousins told Yahoo Sports, “Have I made mistakes? Absolutely. Have I done things the wrong way? Absolutely. For that, I’m very apologetic. But I’ve done even more things the correct way and I’ve done even more positive things compared to my negatives."
What are the negatives for Cousins? The glaring example is technical fouls. He's committed 143 technical fouls in his career, the 19th-most in NBA history. Last year Cousins played only 48 games for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Denver Nuggets, but he still tied for fourth in the league with 16 T's, one every three games. In the Nuggets' first playoff game, he picked up two quick technicals and got ejected. He's even been ejected from the bench.
Technical fouls aren't the only negative, as Cousins has led the league in regular fouls three times, and has always had tendency to argue with officials rather than run back on defense.
Cousins also had harassment charges filed against him in 2019 after threatening the mother of his child over the phone, although the charges were later dropped.
Boogie's mobility has been compromised by an Achilles tear in 2018, a torn quadriceps in 2019, and a torn ACL in the summer of 2019. He can still score and rebound - Cousins averaged 21.6 points and 13.5 rebounds per 36 minutes last season - but his team's offense has been worse with him on the floor since his Achilles tear, except for 17 games with the Bucks last year.
Thus, Cousins is a flawed player who needs to find a team with a need at center, that also has playoff aspirations - no one is bringing in Boogie to mentor young players. In the Western Conference, the Nuggets chose to sign DeAndre Jordan rather than bring back Boogie, despite Michael Malone having coached Cousins in Sacramento and Denver. The Suns, Mavericks, Pelicans, and Timberwolves are loaded at center. The Warriors, Lakers, Kings, and Clippers have plenty of bigs, and they've already tried Cousins on their teams. The Jazz, Spurs, Thunder, and Rockets are young and tanking.
That leaves the Portland Trail Blazers, who don't have much big man depth behind center Jusuf Nurkic, who has missed over 100 games the past three seasons. They also had success rehabilitating Carmelo Anthony, another former All-Star who'd fallen out of the league.
In the East, Milwaukee already had Boogie, and Boston brought in Blake Griffin to cover their big man needs. Philly did the same with Montrezl Harrell. In fact, every playoff contender already goes at least two-deep at center, except for one: The Brooklyn Nets. While there might be a need behind Nic Claxton at the five, it sounds crazy to add Boogie Cousins to that combustible mix of personalities. But barring an injury somewhere else, that's the one, far-fetched option in the East.
So while Cousins wants to come back to the NBA, there's only one realistic destination. Time to reach out to Damian Lillard, Boogie!
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