DeMarcus Cousins
The 6-10 Cousins is already a free agent after being bought out by Houston. The fact that no team has yet signed him indicates that many teams have doubts about his value and are waiting to see who else might be available.
Fans will recall that Boogie signed with the Lakers back in July 2019 but missed the entire 2019-20 season after tearing his ACL. He maintained a good relationship with the team even after they waived him to create a roster spot. Many were surprised that he didn’t re-sign with them this past off-season.
His performance in 25 games with the Rockets had mixed results. Cousins had never previously attempted more than 1/3 of his shots from three-point range, yet more than ½ of his attempts with Houston were from behind the arc, where he connected at a so-so 33.6% rate. In 20 minutes a game he tallied 9.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 0.7 blocks, all career lows.
To no one’s surprise after his injury, his lateral quickness has diminished. Also, his overall defense with the Rockets wasn’t especially strong.
Could Boogie help the Lakers? Possibly, particularly because he is an outside shooting threat. He wouldn’t be a prominent rim protector or defender, but he could be a scoring threat that, like Aldridge, would pull his man out of the paint.