The Los Angeles Lakers need to find a replacement for DeMarcus Cousins. Here are five players they could use to replace him.
It has been a nightmare for new Los Angeles Lakers center DeMarcus Cousins since he tore his Achilles two seasons ago. Unfortunately, he suffered another catastrophic injury to the same leg this week. During an offseason workout, Boogie bumped knees in a pickup game at a local gym with someone guarding him and that sent him falling to the floor.
The bumped knee story came out early Thursday morning, and then a few hours later the tragic news broke that Cousins had a torn ACL. Every Lakers fan’s heart sunk into their stomach right when they read or heard the news.
Not only is this horrible for Boogie, who has worked tremendously hard the past few years to get back in shape. It also has a terribly negative effect on the Lakers’ title chances this year, because many foresaw him as an x-factor for this upcoming season.
In the best-case scenario, Cousins could possibly make it back in time for the playoffs if his rehab goes well. However, it is more likely that his third major leg injury in as many years will keep him out the entire next season.
This injury somewhat depletes the Lakers’ depth at center, because it is newly acquired big man Anthony Davis‘s preference is to not to play that many minutes at the five.
Yet this will probably force Davis into playing more center and could give more playing time to guys like Kyle Kuzma and Jared Dudley at power forward. They will also have to lean heavily on JaVale McGee, who has not really played starters minutes recently in his career.
The Lakers currently have an open roster spot, so they would not have to let Cousins go to sign another body to help the Lakers down low. However, it has been rumored that they want to keep an open roster spot, just in case Andre Iguodala gets bought out by Memphis and becomes available.
If they want to keep the roster spot open, they could waive another expendable guy like Troy Daniels or Rajon Rondo to help balance out the roster between the front and backcourt players. Whatever route they take, there are some decent frontcourt options available to help fill the void Cousins has left.
This list highlights five of the top available free agent big men on the market that could be a rotation player for the Lakers next season. All of the guys on the list are past their prime, but they could be viable veteran options for a team with postseason aspirations.