Uh, so free agency is RIDICULOUS.
Free agent DeMarcus Cousins has agreed to a deal with the Golden State Warriors, according to Shams Charania of Yahoo. The deal is for one year and $5.3 million, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The Warriors are coming off yet another championship, and hardly need the services of one of the more coveted players still available on the open market, but with the West increasing in strength around them, they’ve made a move that will surely make a lot of non-Warriors fans angry.
While “superteam” and “overkill” will be thrown around, Steph Curry seems more than happy to welcome Cousins to the Warriors:
The Warriors and the Boston Celtics were the final two teams that Cousins was considering, according to Chris Haynes of ESPN. There’s surely many, many out there who would love to know what kind of deal the Celtics were offering.
Cousins was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in the 2010 NBA Draft, and was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans at the end of the 2016-17 season. He suffered a torn left Achilles and on January 31 of this year, he underwent season-ending surgery. He is expected to miss a portion of the regular season, but could provide a boon to the Warriors come playoff time.
Before sustaining the injury this past season, Cousins played in 48 games for the Pelicans, averaging 36.2 minutes, 25.2 points, 11 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. Before his injury, New Orleans seemed poised to offer him a max contract, but now he’s hit the open market and is off to the defending champions.
The Warriors also re-signed Kevin Durant during this free agency period, and he took less than the max he could have made. The savings work out to ... well, just about as much as they’re set to pay Cousins this season. That seems like a pretty good deal for a team already stocked with an embarrassment of riches.