Los Angeles, United States—Injury-bugged Los Angeles Lakers center DeMarcus Cousins could miss the entire 2019-20 NBA season with a torn left knee ligament, the team confirmed Thursday (Friday Philippine time).
In a major setback for a club that added star big man Anthony Davis to four-time NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James in July, Cousins suffered the injury working out in Las Vegas on Monday when he “bumped knees” with another player, according to ESPN.
Team doctors in Los Angeles on Thursday confirmed the third serious leg injury for Cousins in 18 months, with no timetable set for surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Cousins was signed as a free agent in July, on a one-year deal for $3.5 million, after playing with the Golden State Warriors last season.
He spent most of the past campaign recovering from a left Achilles tendon tear in January 2018 but played 30 games for Golden State before suffering a torn quadriceps in the second game of the playoffs that sidelined him until the opening game of the NBA Finals, which the Warriors lost to the Toronto Raptors.
Cousins, 29, has played nine NBA seasons, averaging 21.2 points and 10.9 rebounds a game.
Losing Cousins would force some key changes into the Lakers’ frontline, potentially including moving Davis from power forward to center to replace Cousins.
It also figures to give backup center JaVale McGee more time in the middle, potentially a major role if the Lakers elect to keep Davis at forward, with playmaker James another versatile threat.
“It’s super unfortunate for a guy like DeMarcus because you can just tell how much he loves basketball through all of these injuries,” Lakers standout Kyle Kuzma said at a United States national team workout in Los Angeles on Thursday (Friday Philippine time). “He was going to be a big part of what we’re going to do.”
Cousins played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, where he was an All-American in 2010.
He left Kentucky after one season and was selected with the fifth overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. In his first season with the Kings, Cousins was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team.
He was named an NBA All-Star from 2015 to 2018. He is also a two-time gold medal winner as a member of the United States national team, winning his first in 2014 at the FIBA Basketball World Cup and his second in 2016 at the Rio Olympics.
On February 20, 2017, Cousins and teammate Omri Casspi were traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Tyreke Evans, Buddy Hield, Langston Galloway, and 2017 first-round and second-round draft picks.
His stint with the Pelicans did not go well. After not receiving any contract offers from any NBA team, Cousins turned his attention to signing with an elite team with the midlevel exception.
Cousins called Golden State general manager Bob Myers about joining the Warriors and then spoke to Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. He subsequently accepted the Warriors’ midlevel exception and signed a one-year deal for $5.3 million on July 6, 2018.