NBA Rumors: Klay Thompson Reveals What L.A. Lakers Could Expect From DeMarcus Cousins In 2019-20 Season
When DeMarcus Cousins joined the core group of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green on the Golden State Warriors, most people thought the team would have an easy path to their third consecutive NBA championship title. Unfortunately, after suffering multiple injuries in the postseason, the Warriors ended up being dethroned by the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 NBA Finals. Unfortunately for Cousins’ prospects, he was one of those players whose injury greatly affected the outcome of the 2018-19 NBA season.
After failing to regain his All-Star form, Cousins was once again forced to accept another cheap deal in the 2019 NBA free agency. He decided to leave the Warriors to sign a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. Though there’s still a big question on whether or not he can make himself a good fit for LeBron James’ team, Klay Thompson assured the Lakers that they got a “very good player, who’s very hungry.” In an interview with Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times, Thompson said that Cousins is going to be a “huge asset” for the Lakers in the 2019-20 NBA season.
“DeMarcus is a great teammate and I developed such a great chemistry with him, coming off screens and cutting off from posts,” Thompson said, as quoted by Yahoo Sports. “I’ll miss him. I know he’s going to be a huge asset for the Lakers. When they slow it down, he’s so good on the block and such a great decision-maker. People don’t realize what a great decision-maker he is. Above all, I love his will to compete. He was very hurt last year during our Finals run but he was still out there making a huge impact and getting double-doubles and he won us a couple games, honestly.”
Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins appear to crash a pickup basketball game in the Bahamas https://t.co/JBq6xXI4Du pic.twitter.com/LIwJulW4Bc
— SFGATE (@SFGate) August 8, 2019
Though he failed to help the Warriors bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy last season, Thompson believes that Cousins could once again become the player who was once considered to be one of the most dominant big men in the league. Since the 2019 NBA offseason started, Cousins has already shown a massive improvement with his physique. He also claims that his quad is already 100 percent healed.
This may be the first time Cousins will playing for the Purple and Gold, but he isn’t expected to have a hard time making himself comfortable in Los Angeles. He will be reuniting with some familiar faces, including Rajon Rondo, Anthony Davis, and Quinn Cook. Cousins and Cook played together in Golden State last season, while Rondo and Davis were his teammates during his stint with the New Orleans Pelicans.
