Five days ago, All-Star Center DeMarcus Cousins threw out a historic 44-point, 23-rebound, 10-assist triple-double in a 132-128 overtime win against the Chicago Bulls. The legendary 40-20-10 stat-line has only been achieved by four players (all currently retired): Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain (six times!!!), Oscar Robertson, and Elgin Baylor.
Fun fact: All of those players are in the Hall of Fame.
During the final moments of yesterday’s game against the Houston Rockets, Cousins’ suffered an injury to his achilles after coming down awkwardly chasing a rebound off a free throw he missed.
It was confirmed later that his left achilles was torn. The timetable for return would be roughly 6-10 months.
This is heartbreaking. The Pelicans, who sit at the fifth seed in the West with a 27-21 record, were just clicking. Averaging 25-13-5 with a 47/36/75 slash line, Cousins was having the most successful year of his career and was finally able to play with a superstar teammate in Anthony Davis. There was excitement to see playoff Boogie for the first time, and now that’s been taken away from us.
With Cousins sidelined, we have to consider the implications his absence will have on not just the rest of New Orleans’ season, but any options Cousins could have in free agency.
The gap between the Pelicans and the ninth seed Los Angeles Clippers is three games. Anthony Davis is the lone star-player on the team once again. He’ll have to carry a lackluster roster that has virtually no room for error over the next 34 games.
Cousins is set to be a free agent next year. Whether or not he was already planning to re-sign with the Pelicans, who planned on doing so, he was going to cash out. Now, we’ll have to see whether or not there’s still as much interest in Cousins come July.