On Sunday, LeBron James shocked the basketball world when he announced that he was signing with the Los Angeles.
24 hours later, DeMarcus Cousins shocked the basketball world and signed with the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors:
Free agent DeMarcus Cousins has agreed to a deal with the Golden State Warriors, league sources tell Yahoo.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2018
The shocking part about this is the fact that Cousins has had his fair share of issues with players on the Warriors including a confrontation with Kevin Durant last year, which led to both players being ejected.
So despite all that, what motivated Cousins to join Golden State? The answer is: Draymond Green.
According to Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports:
“The Warriors’ recruitment was led by Green, who has a strong relationship with Cousins, and general manager Bob Myers, and it included positive phone calls between Cousins, coach Steve Kerr and Durant, league sources said. Both Cousins and the organization understood the most critical time of the season — the playoffs — will be the stage in which Cousins shines the most for the Warriors.”
Cousins averaged 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.6 blocks, and helped push New Orleans to a 27-21 record before he went down with a season ending injury that ultimately hurt his stock this offseason.
