NBA Trade Rumors: Could the Los Angeles Lakers Emerge as a Potential Landing Spot for DeMarcus Cousins?
The Los Angeles Lakers are still trying to find a way back to the NBA's promised land.
Following a decade that was bookended by title wins, the Lakers of late have become more known for picking in the lottery portion of the draft instead of playing in the postseason.
Playoff droughts are normal for almost every NBA team. But for a franchise as storied and successful as the Lakers, being in a drought is almost unheard of, which is why the team is expected to do whatever it can in the near future to finally put an end to this period of futility.
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In a recent article, the lead Lakers writer for Bleacher Report, Eric Pincus, suggested that the team should keep track of Paul George of the Oklahoma City Thunder and DeMarcus Cousins of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Pincus also suggested that the Lakers should think about trying to trade for those two players ahead of the deadline.
The George-Lakers connection has been known for a while now, and the team is expected to go hard after the forward when he enters free agency this summer. Trading for him makes sense because it could allow the Lakers to show him before free agency that they are the team he should want to play for, further reinforcing the interest he may already have to do so.
Going after Cousins is not as much as an obvious move for the team, and this is mainly because where he wants to play next season is not quite as well-known. Presumably, Cousins will want to go to a contender after missing out on the playoffs during the earlier part of his career, but whether the Lakers will be good enough to be considered as such as early as next season remains to be seen.
There is a very real chance that if the Lakers trade for Cousins this season, he could just walk away from the team in the summer.
Considering how impressive Cousins' numbers have been this season – he is scoring more than 26 points per game with an efficient shooting percentage and also grabbing more than 12 rebounds per content, according to his Basketball Reference page – there will be other teams who will try to sign him in the offseason.
If the Lakers trade for him this season, they could end up giving away real assets in exchange for someone who only plays for them for a few months.
At some point, the Lakers will need to take a risk if they want to climb back into championship contention, but trading for Cousins may not be the right one for them.
