NBA Trade Rumors: DeMarcus Cousins a Likely Target for Lakers
The NBA trade deadline is coming fast as Feb. 8 approaches, and the Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of work to do if they are to attract top free agents next season. One option the Lakers front office is looking at is acquiring Pelicans center DeMarcus Cousins.
With the Lakers now scraping the bottom with a record of 11 wins and 26 losses, their chance of attracting LeBron James or Paul George gets dimmer with every loss.
Not only that — their lottery pick, which is all but assured if their record continues to hover at the bottom of the league like this, is already tagged to go to the Boston Celtics, as Metro USA points out.
A trade, then, is the chance the franchise is looking for to turn things around. One way to attract top free agents is to go for Paul George or DeMarcus Cousins, as Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus explained in the LakersNation Podcast.
"Plan A for the Lakers is still LeBron James," Pincus explained, as that much is evident with the Cleveland superstar becoming a free agent this summer.
"Having said that, at the deadline, the Lakers have two targets: Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins," Pincus went on, adding that between the two of them, Paul George looks to be the tougher acquisition compared to Cousins. With the Oklahoma City Thunder doing a decent enough job staying high in the ranking, the Pelicans may be easier to convince.
"The Pelicans are a different story because they're just above .500. If they don't climb the standings, they will be open to move Cousins," Pincus added.
Basketball Insider's Michael Scotto, however, disagrees. "I don't see them moving Cousins because one: They're trying to become a playoff team. They feel their best advantage against any team – whether it's the Golden State Warriors, the Cleveland Cavaliers, etc. – is that they have two of the premier big men in the league," he said on TheHoopsHype podcast.
