Sacramento Kings: How trading DeMarcus Cousins saved the Kings

The New Orleans Pelicans receive DeMarcus Cousins and Omri Casspi

Though it isn’t clear whether the Pelicans outbid the other callers — including Denver, Phoenix, Boston, and the Los Angeles Lakers — or simply called at the right time, they were successful in landing their coveted co-star to pair with their own franchise player in Anthony Davis.

At this point, there had only been quiet rumblings that Anthony Davis was growing frustrated with the path that the Pelicans seemed to be on, but it seemed clear that New Orleans would have to make a serious push for the playoffs sooner or later or risk having him demand a trade.

Wouldn’t that have been awful for them?

At the time of the trade, the Pelicans were 23-34, good for the 11th seed in a stacked Western Conference. Let’s take a look at what they received.

Omri Casspi (SF/PF)

There’s a reason that this trade hasn’t since been referred to as “The Omri Casspi Trade.” It’s the same reason that the Pelicans only played him a single game before waiving him.

Casspi was a somewhat respectable bench piece at this point in his career, offering streaky scoring if given the right supporting cast. But New Orleans wasn’t interested.

Demarcus Cousins (C)

Simply put, DeMarcus Cousins was the best center in the NBA. He was already a four-time All-Star who was just entering his prime. His seven-foot, near-300-pound frame allowed him to body and bully defenders as he got his way on the inside.

And from the outside, Cousins was shooting at respectable enough percentages to warrant coming out on the perimeter to guard him.

The two-time All-NBA selection was a proficient ball-handler relative to the other big men in the league, and he could easily run the break on his own — barreling down the lane to run over any poor opponent who dared to get in between him and the basket.

By adding a ball-handling, physical center at the top of his game, the Pelicans could move Davis to a permanent role in the power forward slot, his preferred position.

The two were poised to wreak havoc on the league.

That didn’t come to fruition in their first partial season together, however. Cousins would play in seventeen of the season’s final 25 games. The Pelicans would finish 34-48 — 10th overall in the Western Conference and just two games better than the Kings.

The final stretch was seen more as an exercise in developing chemistry between the all-star tandem of AD and Boogie, but the following season would be the true test.

Unsurprisingly, the new Pelicans duo was a handful for many teams, and New Orleans put together a 27-21 record as the All-Star Game approached. Both Davis and Cousins had been selected to participate.

Only one would actually play.

In front of a capacity crowd in New Orleans, the freshly-minted All-Star, Cousins, was putting on a show against the first-place Houston Rockets — 15 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, and his second triple-double of the week.

With the game winding down to its final seconds and the Pelicans holding on to a slim four-point lead, Cousins would attempt his second free throw to try and ice the game. He clanked it high off the left side of the rim, hustled after his own rebound, and attempted to bat the ball to a teammate as he fell out of bounds.

As his teammates hustled back on defense to contest a pull-up three-pointer from Chris Paul, Cousins attempted to get back to his feet, sliding sloppily to the floor as he held his hands to his head in front of the Rockets bench.

Cousins had ruptured his left Achilles tendon.

The Pelicans would fight on to scrap their way to a 48-34 record — mainly on the shoulders of Anthony Davis, who had erupted into an unstoppable force as soon as Cousins went down.

They would enter as the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoffs and sweep the third-seeded Portland Trail Blazers before being overpowered by the Golden State Warriors in the following round.

While the team came up short of their ultimate goal, they exceeded expectations following the catastrophic injury to Boogie. The expectation on both ends was that Cousins would re-sign with the Pelicans and rehabilitate his Achilles injury while Anthony Davis continued to hold down the fort.

Cousins was exceptional during his time with the Pelicans. Though he only played in a combined 65 games across two partial seasons, he put up dominant numbers: averaging 25 points, 12.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game.

The prognosis for a man of Cousins’ size returning to form from that type of injury was not very optimistic. In fact, history warned that almost every NBA giant chopped down at the Achilles was doomed to an early retirement.

Some point between the devastating injury and Boogie’s impending free agency, the New Orleans front office sat down with Cousins and offered a two-year, $40 million offer sheet — respectable enough considering the injury, but far from the maximum contract that he had been all but guaranteed heading into his contract year.

Cousins chose to reject the offer and wait for free agency.

But when free agency came, Boogie’s line was left untouched. After the Pelicans seemed to move on from Cousins by offering a deal to free-agent center Julius Randle, Boogie decided to be proactive.

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In a move that shocked the world almost as much as the trade to New Orleans did, Cousins agreed to team up with the juggernaut Golden State Warriors on a one-year, $5.3 million contract.

Cousins would not return to action until January 18, 2019, almost a year since he ruptured his Achilles tendon. His stats were mostly underwhelming, and his injury limited his ability to keep up with the fast-paced style of the Warriors.

He was essentially relegated to splitting time at center with Kevon Looney.

From the eye test alone, Cousins lost significant explosiveness that made him dominant in years past. He was still able to be a physical force in the post, but his verticality was significantly limited, and his acceleration to spark post-moves was glacially slow.

The worst aspect of such a significant injury was the reality that Cousins would likely overexert other parts of his lower body to make up for his recently-mended Achilles.

In the first round of a playoff series against the Los Angeles Clippers, Cousins would go down with a quadriceps tear that would keep him out until the NBA Finals.

When reflecting on Cousins’ impact in New Orleans, it’s hard to ignore that he put up arguably one of his best seasons while in NOLA. In just 48 games, Cousins put together an incredible 38 double-doubles and three triple-doubles for a franchise pleading for anyone to support Anthony Davis.