Los Angeles Lakers: Will they have a Big 3 with DeMarcus Cousins hurt?

With DeMarcus Cousins out, will the Los Angeles Lakers have a Big 3 next season?

On the 16th of April 2019, the fate of two franchises changed. During Game 2 of the first round of the NBA playoffs, the Golden State Warriors faced off against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Warriors armed with their 5-headed monsters in the form of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and DeMarcus Cousins. A lineup when healthy would strike fear into any all-time teams heart.

Having cruised to a Game 1 win over the Clippers, it looked like the Warriors were going to dominate the West and continue onto the NBA finals where they would win and in doing so would be with the likes of the Shaq and Kobe Lakers and Jordan and Pippen Bulls in getting a three-peat.

However, the Warriors were dealt a significant blow to their title efforts when Cousins, who was chasing down the ball, suddenly crumbled to the floor as his leg went out from underneath him.

An MRI revealed a quad tear to Cousins, which ruled him out for most of the playoffs. While Cousins was able to come back to the Warriors during the NBA finals, he looked a shell of the dominant player we all saw in Sacramento.

While Cousins numbers were respectable during his only season with the Warriors (Averaging 16.3ppg, 8.2rpg, and 3.2apg in 25.7 minutes of action), his time with the Warriors might be considered a failure.

As free agency begun on June 30th, many superstar players came off the board rapidly, this was quickly followed by numerous players who got overpaid by cash-rich teams. 6 long days passed, with no sign of any team taking a chance on Boogie Cousins, however, on the 7th day, a Woj bomb drops.

With Cousins joining his former New Orleans Pelicans teammates in Rajon Rondo and superstar Anthony Davis in Los Angeles, it was considered a good move for both parties, as Cousins had landed back on a contender where he wouldn’t be relied upon to be the man right away. The Los Angeles Lakers, in turn, landed a low-risk high reward player in DeMarcus Cousins, who at one point in the not too distant past was considered the best center in the NBA.

To add some context to the level of bad luck and misfortune Cousins has gone through. Cousins tore his Achilles during his first season with the New Orleans Pelicans, an injury which takes at least two years to fully heal. During this time, Cousins and Anthony Davis were an absolute handful to deal with on a nightly basis, going back and forth destroying teams from the inside out. With both players capable of playing center and power forward, they gave opposing big men nightmares.

With the Warriors, the next injury for Cousins came at a time when he was starting to look like the dominant big man we all saw in Sacramento and New Orleans. He wasn’t fully healed from the torn quad when he played in the Finals and at times looked like he didn’t even belong in the NBA.

It looked like DeMarcus had been given the entire summer to rehab, rest and fully heal his quad injury. The hope was that the Lakers get a fully healthy and motivated Cousins, who could join LeBron James and Anthony Davis in forming a potential big three after missing out on Kawhi Leonard earlier in the summer.

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With this fresh injury to Cousins, it lends a bit of credence to why the rest of the NBA turned their collective backs on Cousins. I must preface this by saying that no one wishes injuries on any player, it is incredibly sad and heartbreaking to watch a player go through what he has over the past 2 years and be hit by yet another obstacle. It is going to require significant mental fortitude for Cousins to bounce back from this.

So who can replace DeMarcus Cousins in helping the Lakers create a Big 3? It is not out of the realm of possibility that Kyle Kuzma gets to an All-Star level. His game blends well with that of LeBron and Davis. With Davis capable of playing power forward and center and James equally as capable of playing the 3 and 4, Kuzma is capable of playing both the 3 and 4, meaning that a line up of Davis at the 5, LeBron at the 4 and Kuzma at the 3 spots.

All Kuzma needs to do is provide some pick-and-roll offense and occasionally hit a 3-pointer with consistency. Any effort on the defensive end would just be considered a bonus at this point.

If Kuzma was able to average 18.7ppg, 5.5rpg, and 2.5apg last season, you can imagine he is going to get significantly easier looks while he is sharing the court with players like James and Davis on the floor, who demand double teams each possession.

Lakers fans might just see a team that has a real chip on their shoulder. You have LeBron, unquestionably one of the greatest players in NBA history being disrespected in NBA circles and by former colleagues, saying that he is no longer a Top 5 player. Also that he doesn’t have the same hunger to win and that he only came to LA to be in movies and promote his brand.

Then you have Davis, who has spent his entire career up until this point with a poorly run organization in the New Orleans Pelicans. New Orleans struggled to put him in a position to win. Now that he is a Laker and has a chance to win it all this season, you can expect a motivated Davis.

Now to Kuzma, who has been overlooked the entire offseason, he has been relegated to the bench by fans as soon as Cousins and Davis came to the Lakers. Kuzma has had reporters constantly remind him that his role on the Lakers looks to be that of a bench role. While Kuzma has been very respectful and courteous while answering these questions, the fiery competitor in him will use every bit of this as fuel to the fire. We can expect a big season from Kyle Kuzma.

dark. Next. 5 Players that can fill the void from DeMarcus Cousins

Here is hoping that with the newly assembled squad, a fresh superstar in Anthony Davis and a well-balanced team can lead to the Lakers challenging for a title this season.

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