The greatest test for any professional athlete both a mentally and physically is coming back from a serious injury. That was the hurdle that four-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins was facing first with a torn Achilles he sustained in 2018 and then from a quad muscle that cost him much of his first taste of the postseason this past spring with the then back-to-back defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors. He hoped this upcoming season would be the true start to his resurgence as one of the best big men in the NBA. Last week though brought another injury hurdle for him to clear.
Cousins, a four-time All-Star who the Los Angeles Lakers signed as an unrestricted free agent in July suffered a torn ACL in his left knee while working out in Las Vegas, NV last week.
The former Sacramento King, New Orleans Pelican and aforementioned Warrior sustained the injury after he bumped knees with another player, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Wojnarowski and “The Athletic’s” Shams Charania also reported that Cousins was scheduled for additional testing on his knee to diagnose the injury. Those tests revealed that he did tear his ACL, which will keep Cousins sidelined indefinitely right now and possibly the entire 2019-20 season.
It is the latest setback for the 29-year-old, which has seen him lose out on two opportunities for that elusive big-time payday the last two off-seasons.
“It’s no joke when you get injured,” Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma, who is working out with Team USA in their preparation for the upcoming World Cup said after Thursday’s practice in Los Angeles, CA about the injury to Cousins. “This is our livelihood and it’s something that we love to do. It’s super unfortunate for a guy like DeMarcus because you can just tell how much he loves basketball through all these injuries…he’s fought back and tried to get back as early as possible. That’s kind of how the ball goes sometimes…he was going to be a big part of what we’re going to do.”
Aside from the physical challenge that stands in front of Cousins to get back on the hardwood again, there is the major concern of his mental focus of him having to rehab again.
This was a man who was on the verge of a $200 million contract in the summer of 2018 before he tore his Achilles in February 2018 while playing with the Pelicans.
He did receive an offer to re-sign with the Pelicans the previous summer, but he turned it down and signed a one-year, $5.3 million deal with the Warriors, where he bet on himself that he get to a point where potential suitors would see that he is fully healthy both physically, and that he is in better control of his emotions on the hardwood.
While he did come back from the ruptured Achilles last season, Cousins as mentioned suffered another setback by tearing his left quadriceps muscle in Game 2 of the First-Round against the Los Angeles Clippers on Apr. 15.
Cousins did comeback in the 2019 Finals and helped the Warriors win Game 2 of that series, 109-104 at the Raptors with 11 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and two block shots to tie the series at 1-1 on June 2. The Warriors would end up losing The Finals 4-2 and Cousins struggled the remaining games scoring a total of 10 points and seven boards in Games 3 and 4. He did score 14 and 12 points respectably in Games 5 and 6.
In the craziest summer of free agency, not a whole lot of suitors were getting in touch with
Cousins about bringing him on board to join them. It was not until after the Lakers lost out on signing 2019 Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard that the Lakers reached out and signed Cousins on a one-year deal, $3.5 million deal.
He was expected to be a huge of the Lakers’ playing rotation that featured four-time Kia MVP LeBron James; perennial All-Star and former Pelicans’ teammate Anthony Davis; Danny Green, who was a part of that Raptors team that won the title as mentioned in June and veteran lead guard Rajon Rondo, who the Lakers re-signed earlier this summer.
What makes this injury Cousins sustained even worse is the fact that the NBA as a whole is more committed to going with small lineups, where teams rarely used one big, if not two big men on the court at all.
Cousins was already fighting an uphill battle coming into this new situation with the Lakers and with this latest setback where he got injured in just a workout and he is going into his 30s.
“It’s just scary about it. It’s probably harder for a center to get a job in the NBA today than it’s been in the last 30 years and now he got injuries, that’s difficult,” ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst said on Monday’s edition of “NBA: The Jump.”
To put into context of the kind of career, statistically that Cousins has had, he is just one of 11 players in NBA history to average 21.2 points and 10.9 rebounds for a career. That list includes All-Stars Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers.
This loss also impacts the Lakers roster that from first glance is talented, but not deep, and there lack height, especially in the front court.
The only other 7-footer on the roster is JaVale McGee, who the Lakers also re-signed this off-season. The rest of the Lakers frontcourt of the aforementioned James and Davis; Kostas Antetokounmpo, who the Lakers claimed off waivers earlier this off-season; Kuzma and Jared Dudley are between 6’7” and 6’10.”
On top of that, they traded away Lonzo Ball, Josh Hart and Brandon Ingram to get Davis from the Pelicans earlier this off-season.
The loss of Cousins will put a lot of pressure on James and Davis to not only score, but to rebound and be especially great at the defensive end of the floor.
For Davis, he will likely be playing more at the center spot, especially at the end of games, which he has expressed in the past that he does not want to do when he was a member of the Pelicans.
“I think in terms of the 82-game schedule, load management, time management, however they want to handle this, it’s a pretty big loss,” ESPN’s Royce Young said of the Lakers losing Cousins. “I don’t know how much they would have gotten out of DeMarcus Cousins, but just to have that type of player that you can conceivably rely upon for 16 [points] and 10 [rebounds] on any given night. To not have that anymore makes them look a lot thinner than they already were.”
Now there is the question of what move is available for the Lakers to make to fill the void of the loss of Cousins?
Over the weekend, it was reported by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne that the Memphis Grizzlies have granted permission for the representatives of All-Star center Dwight Howard, who was acquired by them from the Washington Wizards over the summer to speak with other squads, including the Lakers about acquiring him.
Another name floated around about possibly joining the Lakers is former center for the Chicago Bulls and New York Knicks Joakim Noah, who played last season with the Grizzlies.
The Lakers according to Wojnarowski and Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times the Laekrs are planning individual workouts with Howard, Noah, and former Warrior Marreese Speights this week. Wojnarowski has also reported that the Lakers may also workout Howard’s former teammate with the Magic from 2007-10 Marcin Gortat.
On the surface, Noah would be a much better fit for the Lakers because he would come in and accept whatever role he is given. He has a much better understanding at this point in his career that he is a role player.
Last season with the Grizzlies, Noah averaged 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds in 16.5 minutes in the 42 games he played for the Grizzlies this past season after signing in early December 2018.
Noah joined the Grizzlies after he was cut by the New York Knicks in October 2018. His brief stint with the Knicks concluded after clashing with then head coach Jeff Hornacek in 2017-18, where he appeared in just seven games.
Howard, who is under contract with 33, played in just nine games last season with the Wizards due to a back injury, that eventually required surgery. He averaged 12.8 points and 9.2 rebounds in those nine games on 62.3 percent from the field.
Also, he has had a reputation of being a major locker room headache with not just the Lakers, but the other teams he played for after just one season in L.A., which saw him average 17.1 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks.
His one season in L.A. though was more about the times he clashed with future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant, which led to him signing with the Houston Rockets, which began a run of him changing teams.
After playing three seasons with the Rockets from 2013-16, Howard has played for the Atlanta Hawks (2016-17), Charlotte Hornets (2017-18), the aforementioned Wizards this past season and as mentioned currently with the Grizzlies.
“You bring in Dwight Howard, and even if he is a ‘reformed man,’ and he wants to change his career, and everything is going to be different this time, there’s going to be baggage there,” Young said. “And I think, this Lakers roster-the last thing they really need is a more distraction, more baggage because it’s already going to be a circus. It’s already going to be crazy. What’s going on within there locker room. With what’s going just in Los Angeles entirely with what the Clippers did. I think Noah a much better fit both on the floor and off the floor.”
Windhorst concurred by saying the Lakers would be “insane” if they bring in Dwight Howard, who played for the Lakers just one season in 2012-13, the last time they made the playoffs.
Speights was a key role player on the Warriors first of three titles in the past five seasons in 2015. He has played 10 seasons in “The Association,” but opted to play last season for the Guangzhou Long-Lions in China. When he last played in the NBA in 2017-18 campaign for the Magic, Speights averaged 7.7 points and 2.6 rebounds.
Gortat prior NBA stop was last season with the Clippers where he averaged five points and 5.6 rebounds in 47 games before being waived by the team in early February. In his 12 seasons with the Magic, Clippers, Wizards and Phoenix Suns, Gortat has averaged 9.9 points and eight rebounds in 25.7 minutes.
For the Lakers though, it seems more important for them to bring in a live young big man, who can play minutes and be productive without all the baggage and possible energy sapper of the locker room. A player who, unlike Howard and Noah will be available to play in back-to-backs or three games in five days.
As Windhorst pointed out on Monday, we have seen this movie before where the prior teams led by James with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Lakers that had the likes of Eric Dampier, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamal Magloire, Chris “Birdman” Andersen and JaVale McGee last season. While Andersen and McGee showed they can contribute, the others better days were behind them.
This was on full display last season when the Lakers had to go out and sign veteran big man Tyson Chandler, who signed with the Rockets this summer as their backup center.
“Forget about these old guys. You got to go out and get a young guy who can get up-and-down the court, and play minutes there,” Windhorst said. “Even if he struggles, I’d rather have a live athletic struggle guy than a guy that you have to manage.”
This loss of Cousins also puts more pressure on the Lakers to possibly go and acquire 2015 Finals MVP Andre Iguodala, who the Grizzlies acquired from the Warriors in early July.
The Lakers were hoping to bring on the three-time NBA champion with the Warriors to the fill that final roster spot after he was bought out of his contract by the Grizzlies.
With the loss of Cousins and several other suitors who also want to bring Iguodala on like the Clippers, the Lakers if they really want Iguodala are going to either have trade for him, which will be difficult seeing as previously mentioned they do not have a lot of assets at their disposal to trade for him or they have to hope the Grizzlies will just buy Iguodala out of his contract.
Last Monday, the career of DeMarcus Cousins was put on hold again after another injury that will require at least a year for him to recover from.
For the Lakers, they lost a major piece in the hopes of making not just a return to the playoffs in the stacked Western Conference after a six-year absence but a hopeful run at championship No. 17.
It is too soon to tell whether this injury will have that major of an effect on the outcome of the upcoming 2019-20 season. It did throw a monkey wrench into not just that but the possibility of bringing on Andre Iguodala on their terms. It also might have sealed Cousins chances of getting that huge payday he hoped for this summer.
Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 8/16/19 www.nba.com story, “DeMarcus Cousins Out Indefinitely with Torn ACL;” 8/19/19 3 p.m. edition of “NBA: The Jump” on ESPN with Brian Windhorst, Royce Young, and Tim MacMahon; 8/20/19 www.nba.com story, “Reports: Lakers To Work Out Dwight Howard, Joakim Noah, Marreese Speights;” https://www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/4258/demarcus-cousins; and https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Howard.
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