Center DeMarcus Cousins will continue one more season in California by reaching an agreement with the Los Angeles Lakers for one year and $ 3.5 million, according to information provided this Saturday by various journalistic sources.
While another veteran, guard Rajon Rondo, will return with the Lakers by agreeing to a two-year contract, ultimately as the player’s option, while next season’s salary will be $ 2.6 million.
The addition of Cousins and Rondo comes hours after the Lakers lost star forward Kawhi Leonard, the biggest player in the free-agent market who settled on his neighbors, the Los Angeles Clippers, who also got forward Paul George from the Los Angeles Clippers. Oklahoma City Thunder.
The loss of Leonard, winner of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award of the past NBA Finals that the Toronto Raptors conquered, prevented the Lakers from establishing what could have been a new dynasty with three great stars by already having at forward LeBron James and center Anthony Davis, Cousins’ former teammate.
The Miami Heat were also keen on landing Cousins, but several Lakers players, including Davis, who he played with on the New Orleans Pelicans, helped convince him to join the Lakers, league sources said.
The Lakers also struck the two-year, $ 30 million deal with guard Danny Green, Leonard’s former teammate with the San Antonio Spurs and Raptors.
Again, the signing of Cousins by the Lakers with such a low salary returns to surprise as it happened last year when he decided on the Golden State Warriors and just $ 5.3 million when he was scheduled in the free agent market as one of the favorites and have a salary of more than 20 million dollars a year.
But having come out of a serious operation to tear his left Achilles tendon did not allow him to play until last January and he closed the regular season with averages of 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds in the 30 games he played.
During the playoffs he also suffered another injury, in the second game of the first round eliminator against the Clippers, a torn left quadriceps.
The injury was initially expected to keep Cousins out for the remainder of the playoffs, but he returned for the NBA Finals and, despite a limited role, was a factor in several games, including the second in Toronto, where He had a double-double of 11 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists that allowed the Warriors to get the victory.
Cousins, who will turn 29, had stated that the serious injuries sustained had made him ponder over continuity as an active player.
The new Lakers center had been named to the All-Star Game four times before signing with the Warriors, after he was selected by the Sacramento Kings with the number of the first round of the 2010 college draft, which in 2017 They traded him to the Pelicans, with whom he finished it and then followed the 2017-18 one until he was injured.
Among active players, he ranks eleventh in points average with 21.25) and fifth in rebounds (10.9) as a professional.
For his part, Rondo was one of several veteran free agents who signed a one-year contract with the Lakers after James joined the Lakers last season, in which due to various discipline and injury problems he could barely play 36 games. and achieved averages of 9.2 points; 8.0 assists and 5.3 rebounds, the best since the 2015-16 season when he was with the Boston Celtics.
Rondo, 33, who will play his fourteenth season as a professional and has been selected four times to the All-Star Game, had the support of James, who praised his leadership on the field and in the locker room.
The veteran player occupies the eighteenth place in the list of assists of all time of the NBA and is only 62 to surpass the French Tony Parker, who has already announced his retirement from the competition. EFE