Injury history and his controversial personal life have derailed DeMarcus Cousins’ NBA journey.
The 32-year-old former NBA star center has played on seven different teams, including the Warriors during the 2018-19 season.
Three seasons later, Warriors general manager Bob Myers is still hearing from Cousins.
“DeMarcus called me a month ago and he said, ‘Why am I not in the NBA?’ ” Myers told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the “All The Smoke” podcast earlier this week. “And I said, ‘You want that answer? … Because people are afraid of how you’re going to act.’ And he’s like ‘Why?’ And I said, ‘Well whatever the reason is, it’s here now.’
“And I like DeMarcus. You guys may know him. He’s just, I can’t blame him for him because of all he’s been through.”
After his one-season stint with the Warriors when they lost the 2019 NBA Finals to the Toronto Raptors, Cousins signed a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers but suffered a torn ACL in his left knee in a preseason workout and missed the entire 2019-20 season.
But that same summer, an arrest warrant was issued for Cousins on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge after Cousins’ ex-girlfriend and mother of their child alleged that Cousins threatened to shoot her during an argument.
TMZ shared an audio recording the woman took of the incident and said the man’s voice was Cousins’. At the time, the NBA announced that it was aware of the domestic abuse allegations against Cousins and was investigating the matter.
Three months later, the charges were dropped and the misdemeanor case was dismissed.
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“I said here’s the issue, you have to act better,” Myers continued. “To get back, you can’t just be average. You have to convince people. And that’s not really fair, but that’s just what it is.”
Cousins’ most recent NBA stint was with the Denver Nuggets last season where he averaged 8.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 31 games.
The 6-foot-10, 270-pound big man recently made it known that he would be interested in re-joining the team where it all started in order to help the Kings snap a 16-year playoff drought.
That hasn’t happened yet, and in the meantime, unconfirmed rumors state that Cousins is preparing to sign with a team in Taiwan’s T1 League where Dwight Howard is currently playing.
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