Three reasons the DeMarcus Cousins-Anthony Davis pairing will work in New Orleans
By John Buhler
DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis are two of the best big men in the NBA and now they are teammates. Here are three reasons this blockbuster trade to land Cousins will work out in The Big Easy.
In the second half of the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, all the basketball world’s focus was not on the NBA All-Star Game. That is because long-time Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins was on the cusp of being traded.
Shortly before midnight on the East Coast, Cousins was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans for two 2017 NBA Draft picks (a first- and second-rounder), Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, and Buddy Hield. Cousins and Omri Casspi would leave Northern California for The Big Easy in this blockbuster trade.
The idea for New Orleans was to pair Cousins with All-Star power forward Anthony Davis. Both guys are former one-and-done players from the Kentucky Wildcats. While they are both 7-footers and may have some overlap in their games, here are three reasons that the Cousins/Davis pairing will be great for the Pelicans.
3. New Orleans might be the ideal market for Cousins to star in
The biggest story of this trade is off the court, specifically how New Orleans was able to pull off this deal despite not having a boat load of intriguing assets. In addition, the off court ramifications are huge — leaving Sacramento for New Orleans might actually be the best thing for the Cousins basketball brand.
Given his enigmatic personality, Cousins never really seemed like a player that could succeed in a major media market. The Mobile native has only played in smaller market cities his entire basketball life: Mobile, Lexington, Sacramento, and now New Orleans.
Cousins likes to be the big fish in a small pond, but doesn’t crave all the media attention of a star player. In New Orleans, he can have his king cake and eat it, too. New Orleans is one of the smaller media markets in the NBA. Pelicans fans will adore him. He’s got another superstar beside him in Davis to take some of the media pressure off his back.
Returning to the Gulf Coast to play in The Big Easy feels like an ideal culture fit for Cousins. His enigmatic qualities may be better understood by people who grew up in the same region of the United States as he. In a way, Cousins would be unencumbered in this sort of homecoming.