A day after LeBron James agreed to join the Lakers, the two-time defending champion Warriors upped the offseason ante in a massive way, reaching a stunning agreement with six-time All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins.
Yahoo! Sports’ Shams Charania was the first to report the deal.
Cousins is in the midst of recovering from one of the most catastrophic injuries in sports, a ruptured Achilles tendon that ended his second season with the Pelicans at 48 games. He was averaging 25.1 points, 12.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists alongside fellow All-Star Anthony Davis, putting him in line for a massive contract extension.
But fears about his recovery obviously didn’t scare off the Warriors, who will be ecstatic to add yet another talent for a pittance to a team already heavily favored to win a third straight championship this season.
Depending on how well Cousins recovers from his injury — he isn’t expected back until at least December — the Warriors can now suit up an almost unprecedented collection of talent featuring two MVPs (Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry), three career 20-point scorers (Durant, Curry, Cousins), another career 19-point scorer (Klay Thompson) and a Defensive Player of the Year (Draymond Green) with a combined 27 All-Star Games between them, all under the age of 30.
