7 Possible Destinations For Demarcus Cousins

Demarcus “Boogie” Cousins, often a player who’s on the butt end of jokes, has recently been voicing his displeasure with the team and has even tried to recruit John Wall and Eric Bledsoe to come play for the Sacramento Kings, but claims it was just a “joke”.

With that, it seems that he may have been serious due to the horrible front office of Sacramento. Even with talented players like Rudy Gay & Darren Collison, the team can’t seem to be successful, even with one of the best centers in the league on the squad. With Cousins being frustrated with the team, I see him leaving the team either by trade or request of release.

Looking into where Boogie could fit, I decided to list seven potential destinations for the Kings’ center:

#7: The Washington Wizards

Demarcus is a person who can fit perfectly within the Wizards system. He and John Wall already have a great relationship and Wall has many times attempted to recruit him to Washington, and with Washington certainly struggling with the stars they have, a key like Cousins can open the door to success. 

Washington could trade Marcin Gortat or Ian Mahinmi and Jason Smith along with a couple of picks for Demarcus Cousins. It may seem like they’re giving up a lot for one man, but it’d be quite worth it.

#6: Portland Trailblazers

After the loss of LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews in one offseason, people thought the Damian Lillard-led Blazers were doomed to not succeed, but following the shocking emergence of star C.J McCollum, the team doesn’t look that bad. 

Even with a backcourt of Dame & C.J., they can’t succeed to heights that they’d like too. They need a great starting center. As good as Festus Ezeli is, he’s not a great starter. With the acquisition of Cousins, the team could be so much more. Portland could acquire him by trading Meyers Leonard, Mason Plumlee and a draft pick to Sacramento for Cousins. They don’t give up as much, but they do lose a PF in the process.

#5: Los Angeles Lakers

Once again, the Lakers are thrown into trade talks, but hear me out. The Lakers would be a great team if they could snag Demarcus Cousins. They have a great backcourt combo of Jordan Clarkson, D’Angelo Russell and Louis Williams, and a good frontcourt of Julius Randle & Larry Nance Jr, but they don’t have a Cousins caliber player. To acquire him, LA could trade Larry Nance Jr, Timofey Mozgov & Marcelo Huertas with a first round pick for Cousins and Willie Cauley-Stein.

#4: Dallas Mavericks

With Dallas’ franchise player  Dirk Nowitzki likely retiring soon and a good defensive center in Andrew Bogut, Dallas would be craving a new starting power forward. Cousins has been playing the position quite a bit with the emergence of Cauley-Stein.

The Mavericks would be a great team, but even with the possible loss of Dirk, the team would not have much room to resign Cousins in the offseason, but the team would be a great veteran team that could run for the playoffs with the great guard rotation of Deron Williams, J.J Barea, Devin Harris, and Wesley Matthews. 

They are pretty set with guards and they can all hit the three ball. Harrison Barnes has seemingly emerged as a star, so that punch of Matthews, Barnes & Cousins could really work. For this to work, Dallas would have to trade Dwight Powell, Justin Anderson, Seth Curry and multiple picks for Cousins.

#3: Toronto Raptors

The Raptors are already a very set team, so they don’t really need to acquire Cousins. However, acquiring them would possibly make them NBA title contenders. They already have a great backcourt of Lowry and DeRozan and a quite average frontcourt led by Jonas Valanciunas. Acquiring Cousins would certainly change how the frontcourt is perceived.

To acquire them, they would trade Valanciunas, Jakob Poeltl, Norman Powell and DeMarre Carroll for Cousins and Rudy Gay. Yes, Gay played for Raptors previously but with him now maturing and the Raptors not needing him as bad as they did before. He’d be able to keep the role he has in Sacramento.

#2 Milwaukee Bucks

Cousins would fit well with the Bucks system, they do need a good center. Greg Monroe isn’t putting up the numbers Milwaukee hoped for when they signed him, and the rest of the big men aren’t getting it done either. Cousins and Giannis would form one of the best combos in recent NBA.

Milwaukee would be able to acquire Cousins by trading Greg Monroe, Thon Maker, Rashad Vaughan and a second rounder for Cousins.

#1: New Orleans Pelicans

Last but certainly not least, the New Orleans Pelicans. This team has not had any success this season, despite Anthony Davis doing phenomenal. Cousins and Davis would be one of the scariest backcourt duos in NBA ever if the Pelicans acquire him.

New Orleans would have to give up quite a number for Cousins. New Orleans would have to trade Alexis Aljinca, Buddy Hield & several draft picks. They may be losing some key pieces to the team but it’ll be worth it. Tyreke would be able to move to SG if the trade happens and Solomon Hill could play the 3 if the acquisition happens.