The Los Angeles Lakers, in its bid to boost its chances to lift the trophy next season, signed big man DeMarcus Cousins. The former Golden State Warriors center was recently reported to have injured his left knee while having his workout. Cousins is now out indefinitely as he is awaiting surgery.
Cousins' injury was first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. A number of reports have revealed that Cousins suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during a workout session. Wojnarowski added that Cousins injured his knee after colliding with another player's knee.
One of Cousins' new teammates, Kyle Kuzma, shared his thoughts about the big man's status saying, "It's no joke when you get injured. This is our livelihood and it's something that we love to do. It's super unfortunate for a guy like DeMarcus because you can just tell how much he loves basketball through all of these injuries."
A number of sports analysts have noted that the degree of Cousins' injury is quite alarming. Cousins is already slated for surgery. However, with the opening of the season just a couple of months away, he is expected to miss a lot of games, if not all of it. Missing a lot of games usually results in player devaluation which equates to less contract money.
This is not the first time Cousins has had this issue. In February 2018, he tore his Achilles just few months before he hits the free agency. His injury not only cost him a lot of value in free agency negotiations. With his prospects getting thinner by the day, Cousins eventually signed with the Warriors for $5.3 million. During his stint with the Warriors, Cousins was benched for much of the season as he rehabs his injured Achilles. He was activated for a couple of games as the season progressed to the playoff but was once again sidelined after tearing his quad muscle.
During this year's post-season, Cousin tried to shop his talent to a number of interesting teams. However, the appeal of joining LeBron James and Anthony Davis may have been one of the biggest decisions of his career. The possibility of winning a ring, a feat he failed to reach even with a totally loaded Warriors team. His injury might have severely hurt his value this postseason. Nevertheless, he was still able to secure a $3.5 million one-year deal with the Lakers.
