NBA Free Agency 2018: 20 best players available

4. DeMarcus Cousins

DeMarcus Cousins, after six and a half desultory seasons in Sacramento was finally traded to the New Orleans Pelicans following the 2017 All Star Game, pairing him with Anthony Davis to form the most imposing 4-5 combo in recent NBA history. While the Pelicans failed to make the Playoffs that season, there was reason for optimism entering the 2017-18 season. Unfortunately, though, after playing forty-eight games, Cousins tore his achilles tendon, ending his season, leaving him unable to make the first Playoff appearance of his embattled career.

The injury makes signing Cousins a risky proposition, although it seems certain that he will have many suitors willing to pay him max money, and understandably so. At his best, Cousins is one of the most dominant players in the NBA, and this most recent season, before his injury, was his most exciting yet as he wandered away from the paint more than ever before and showcased a diverse skill set that he had only hinted at previously. He shot over six 3’s per game and averaged over five assists per game for the first time in his career, while earning a career-high in rebounds per game as well. It was stunning to watch him on a nightly basis doing things that a man of his size should really not be capable of. The Boogie/AD pick and roll was one of the strangest, and most thrilling, play calls in the NBA last season, as they flummoxed the defense and lured them into impossible situation after impossible situation.

Here’s the thing, though: the track record of players coming back from achilles injuries is not great. Several players, such as Kobe Bryant, Elton Brand, Mehmet Okur, and Christian Laettner were never the same after their Achilles tear, unable to reach the same heights they had before.

For optimists and Boogie lovers – and I absolutely place myself in the latter category, if not the former – the good news is that Cousins will be only twenty-eight, still in his athletic prime, at the start of the upcoming season so a full recovery, while not certain, is still more likely than it was for other NBA players who tore their achilles later in their careers.

It seems probable that the Pelicans will try to resign Cousins immediately with a max deal considering their lack of financial flexibility and historic inability to lure a big free agent to New Orleans, along with their desperation to pair Anthony Davis with a superstar in the hopes he does not leave when he is eligible to become a free agent in 2020.