NBA Trades: DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis Are New Dynamic Duo
A DeMarcus Cousins trade has finally been agreed on, where he will be joining an NBA front court with Anthony Davis as the New Orleans Pelicans and Sacramento Kings made a deal.
The final Cousins trade to the Pelicans involves the following players as reported by Mark Stein of ESPN.com.
“(The NBA trade consists of) Cousins and swingman Omri Casspi to the (Pelicans) in exchange for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a 2017 first-round pick and a 2017 second-rounder.”
In the Cousins trade, the Pelicans are gaining the services of one of the top power forwards in the NBA. Cousins is averaging 27.8 points per game and 10.6 rebounds per game in 55 games played this NBA season.
With this Cousins trade, the most important aspect of it all is he will be joining fellow University of Kentucky alum and 2017 NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Davis. Davis, a forward, will share the front court with Cousins, making them a very dangerous dynamic duo. The Cousins trade makes the Western Conference even more interesting than it already was.
Since this past offseason, a Cousins trade by the Kings has been one NBA trade rumor that never seemed like it was going to happen. The Kings held the cards where they could offer Cousins a max deal, and it seemed they were going to stay with him and no Cousins trade would happen.
Sunday night, following the NBA All-Star game, a Cousins trade happened. NBA circles realized even though the Pelicans did give up pretty solid draft picks for the 2017 NBA draft, there was the fact that Cousins and Davis will be on the court at the same time, giving the NBA a very dynamic duo that will bring excitement to New Orleans, who are 23-34 overall this NBA season.
Even with two big names in their front court in Cousins and Davis, eventually, they will both have to gain big contracts, making it interesting to see how the Pelicans will build around them in the foreseeable future. The Cousins trade makes the Pelicans much better on the boards, since that is something New Orleans struggles with, but Cousins will have to control his emotions and stay on the court to make this whole thing work.
Cousins is a very emotional player, which makes him great and a mainstay at the NBA level. That said, he does lead the NBA in technical fouls, times fouling out and ejections since the 2010-11 NBA seasons as stated by the ESPN Stats and Info Twitter page.
The Man#anthonydavis pic.twitter.com/2PcfHY4dx3
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) February 20, 2017
Now, what Davis brings to this new NBA dynamic duo might be making Batman and Robin shake in their boots a little bit. This NBA season, Davis is averaging 27.7 ppg, 11.9 rpg and 2.5 blocks per game in 53 games. Combine the averages of Davis and Cousins together, and it looks like this:
• Points Per Game: 55.5
• Rebounds Per Game: 22.5
• Blocks Per Game: 3.8
• Steals Per Game: 2.7
New Orleans seems to be the big winner in the Cousins trade to the Pelicans. The Kings receive a player they wanted in Hield, plus other players who can contribute, but there is still the unknown of how the future draft picks will turn out. With Cousins going to the Pelicans in the trade, New Orleans has not only one of the strongest front courts in the NBA, they have the only front court with two players each averaging a scoring and rebound double-double for the past four NBA seasons.
Though some aren’t fans of the style and attitude of Cousins when he’s on an NBA court, no one can devalue what he brings to an NBA team and what he’ll bring to the Pelicans playing next to Davis. Cousins will make Davis a better player and vice-versa.
When these two are both at the top of their games, they can and will make for one of the strongest duos in the NBA. The Cousins trade following the NBA All-Star game makes the Pelicans stronger and the NBA even better.
[Featured Image by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images]
