In terms of shock offseason moves over the past decade, few come close to when the Golden State Warriors acquired Demarcus Cousins in free agency of 2018.
Cousins was coming off four-straight All-Star appearnces, while the Warriors had won three championships during the same period. Even despite the fact Cousins was rehabbing from a torn achilles, the idea of him joining Golden State was simply unthinkable.
Yet that's exactly what happened, with reports of his signing on a one-year, $5.3 million contract sending the NBA world into a frenzy as the Warriors compiled one of the most star-studded rosters in history.
Draymond Green and Demarcus Cousins have reflected on the latter's shock move to the Golden State Warriors in 2018
Joining Draymond Green on the latest episode of his podcast, Cousins has recalled how his move to Golden State took place, including rebuffing speculation that his previous team, the New Orleans Pelicans, had offered him a contract following the injury.
Cousins and his agent actually sounded out the Warriors themselves, leading to a hilarious interaction between then general manager Bob Myers and Green. As the veteran forward outlined, he received a panic call from Myers while holidaying in Greece with news of Cousins' potential signing.
Having got into some scuffles with Cousins in the past, Myers frantically wanted to know Green's thoughts on adding the former fifth overall pick.
"I said, 'number one Bob, that’s no issue, that’s no issue at all,'" Green recalled in reference to the past history between the two. "Number two Bob, if you can get Demarcus Cousins, you f******g get Demarcus Cousins."
Cousins wouldn't debut for the Warriors until January 18, 2019 where he scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds before fouling out in 15 minutes against the L.A. Clippers. He would play 30 total games over the remainder of the regular season, averaging 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks per game.
Unfortunately Cousins would come to epitomize Golden State's horrid luck in the 2019 postseason, having suffered a torn quad early in Game 2 of the first-round series against the L.A. Clippers. Cousins returned in the NBA Finals but he and the Warriors couldn't overcome devastating injuries to Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson as the Toronto Raptors claimed a 4-2 series win.
The nightmare injury run would continue when Cousins suffered a torn ACL during the 2019 offseason, with the now 34-year-old playing just 89 more regular season games before his NBA career disappointingly came to an end.