DeMarcus Cousins drains first bucket as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans (Video)

DeMarcus Cousins made his team debut with the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday. Here he is draining a 20-footer on his first shot attempt for the Pelicans.

Of all the teams that made deals heading up to the 2017 NBA trade deadline, the New Orleans Pelicans definitely made the biggest splash. On All-Star Game Sunday, the Pelicans traded for All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins of the Sacramento Kings.

The Mobile native feels at home in The Big Easy. He made his Pelicans debut at the Smoothie King Center on Thursday night in New Orleans against the Southwest Division rival Houston Rockets. When he connected on this awesome 20-footer, the entire Smoothie King Center erupted in enthusiasm.

Early in the first quarter against the Rockets, Cousins would set a screen at the top of the key on Rockets point guard Patrick Beverley to give Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday some room to work with on a drive to the basket.

Cousins would pop out near the three-point line, wide open after the screen. The was caused by Rockets center Nene having to help out Beverley who was beat by Holiday on the screen. Holiday would lob a perfect dump pass back to Cousins for the wide-open 2-pointer.

Spacing may be an issue for the Pelicans defensively, but Cousins has range as a shooter for a center. He and All-Star power forward Anthony Davis have the shooting abilities to stretch the best of NBA defenses.

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New Orleans needed to make a big move to get back into the playoff race in the West. Adding Cousins certainly helps the Pelicans on their quest to make the playoffs. Let’s see if Cousins, Davis, Holiday and the rest of the Pelicans can pull this off and get the No. 8 seed.