Los Angeles Lakers: 3 players Rob Pelinka should not have signed

3. DeMarcus Cousins

Here’s what ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported a few days ago:

"“There’s not a market for [Cousins]. I think he hoped that some big-market teams would strike out, they’d have cap space and he could get a one-year, $12, $15, $18, $20 million deal. That’s not happening. The mid-level exception he got in Golden State last year? I don’t think that’s there.”"

It turns out “Woj” was right about DeMarcus Cousins. He couldn’t even snag a contract at the mid-level exception. Instead, the Lakers signed him to a one-year, $3.5 million deal.

Most Lakers fans are ecstatic with the Cousins deal, but most folks in LA are still drunk from the flurry of moves Rob Pelinka made after Kawhi announced he was going to the Clippers to think straight. However, in a few days when the buzz wears off, everyone is going to start to realize that there was a reason no other team in the association wanted to sign DeMarcus Cousins.

Here are four problems with DeMarcus Cousins:

1. Last season DeMarcus Cousins was the 4th slowest player in the NBA (minimum 15 minutes per game) with an average speed of 3.65 MPH. The Lakers don’t need a dawdling center who’s obviously lost a step (or two) since his Achilles injury. Cousins is too slow to guard smaller players on the perimeter and he’s also too slow to stop big’s down low. LeBron James and Kyle Kuzma are average defenders, so the Lakers need a good defensive center who can cover their mistakes.
2. In 2016-2017 DeMarcus Cousins shot 38% from beyond the arc. Last season, however, he shot 27% on three attempts per game. The huge drop off in Cousins’ 3-point shot isn’t a one-year outlier. After DeMarcus’s Achilles injury he lost almost all the lift in his jump shot, so now when he shoots, he doesn’t get the arc he used to. Making matters worse, it doesn’t appear like he’s going to stop shooting from deep, even though he can’t hit 3-pointers with regularity anymore.
3. DeMarcus Cousins quad injury during the first round of the 2019 playoffs wasn’t just bad luck. Cousins is listed at 270 pounds, but most people believe he weighs in at around 290 lbs. That’s a lot of mass for an everyday player who favors one leg over the other (because of his catastrophic injury) to lug around. Unfortunately, it’s easy to see Cousins continually suffering from various leg injuries as his career continues.
4. DeMarcus Cousins is just a couple years removed from being known as the most volatile player in the association. Has one year with the Warriors really changed his mental makeup? If Frank Vogel gives him 15 minutes per game as the Lakers backup center will he be satisfied? How long will it take before he blows up due to his lack of playing time? These are all fair questions and another reason LA should look for other options at the 5.

The Lakers were correct to sign JaVale McGee to a two-year deal to start at center because he played great basketball for the Lakers during the first part of last season before he missed time with a Pneumonia. Optimistic fans can spin McGee’s amazingly bad second half of the season with the conviction that he was out of shape after missing more than two weeks laid up in the hospital with an infection ravaging his lungs. Either way, he’s a much better defender and roll man than DeMarcus Cousins.

The Lakers were wrong, however, to sign DeMarcus Cousins. Instead, Rob Pelinka should have struck a deal with Kenneth Faried.

Faried was reborn in Houston after he was traded from the Brooklyn Nets. He suited up for the Rockets for 25 games and averaged 13 PPG, 8 RPG, and 1 BPG to go along with a solid 109 defensive rating. Based off of Faried’s play in Houston, the Lakers could have really used his skill set, and he’d also be a much better fit than Cousins.