Clippers sign DeMarcus Cousins for the rest of the season

DeMarcus Cousins (Michael Tipton, Wikimedia Commons)

The Los Angeles Clippers have signed DeMarcus Cousins of Mobile, Alabama to a contract for the rest of the 2021 NBA regular season according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN on Monday. Cousins initially joined the Clippers on April 5, after being waived by the Houston Rockets on February 23. 

In 34 games this season (25 with the Rockets and nine with the Clippers), Cousins averaged nine points per game at the center position. He also averaged seven rebounds per game, 2.1 assists per game, a field goal percentage of .396, a free-throw percentage of .711, and a three-point percentage of .339.

It should be considered as no surprise that Cousins’s statistics are down this season compared to previous years. That is because he tore his anterior cruciate ligament in a pick-up game after signing a one-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers on July 6, 2019. Cousins never played with the Lakers, and ironically has now found a home with the other NBA team in Los Angeles, the Clippers.

Down the stretch, the Clippers will be hoping that Cousins finds the same type of form where he had when he was a four-time all-star in four straight seasons with the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans from 2015 to 2018. In that stretch, Cousins averaged 25.9 points per game and 11.9 rebounds per game.

The one statistic from Cousins’s play in the past that is negative on his record is the number of personal fouls he has had in the past. Three times Cousins has led the NBA in fouls in a season, including a career-high 332 fouls with the Kings in 2010-11.

The Clippers are the third California-based team Cousins has played for. He was also with the Golden State Warriors in 2018-19.

There is no doubt that Cousins will be counted on the rest of the season in Los Angeles to provide space so Clippers stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can continue to produce their offensive magic. Leonard and George have a combined 49.4 points per game for the Clippers this season.

The Clippers are third in the Western Conference with a record of 43 wins and 20 losses. They are two games back of the first-place Utah Jazz.

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