What if the Pelicans don’t want DeMarcus Cousins?

The New Orleans Pelicans have done well without DeMarcus Cousins, so what if they don’t want to re-sign him this summer?

For the most part, a modern “twin towers” arrangement with Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins has worked well for the New Orleans Pelicans. When Cousins suffered a torn left Achilles on Jan. 26, it was thought to be a death knell for the team’s playoff hopes.

But Davis stepped up his production even further, New Orleans went 21-13 without Cousins and a aptly-timed five-game winning streak to end the regular season earned them the sixth seed in the Western Conference.

The Pelicans are now coming off a first-round sweep of the No. 3 seed Portland Trail Blazers. The backcourt tandem of Jrue Holiday and Rajon Rondo outperformed Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, and Nikola Mirotic stepped up as a sidekick for Davis.

Prior to his injury, Cousins was in line for a max deal in free agency this summer. But his serious injury obviously changes that, and his will be an interesting situation to monitor in the rumor market.

Surface and more advanced numbers show the Pelicans have been better without Cousins, since he is turnover-prone and can be a liability defensively. So it seems obvious they’d just let him leave, and instead re-sign Mirotic.

But ESPN’s Zach Lowe has suggested New Orleans could offer Cousins a two or three-year deal for less than the max. Not many teams have the cap space to give Cousins a max contract anyway, and an injured big guy would not be a good use of one.

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The Pelicans have all the leverage if they want to re-sign Cousins. But if they don’t want him, it’s hard to see many other suitors lining up for a big man working his way back from an injury he may never fully recover from.