Dallas Mavericks: Steering clear of DeMarcus Cousins is the best move this summer

Interest between the Dallas Mavericks and Boogie Cousins has supposedly been high for many years, but the Mavs need to play this summer a little safer than those in the past.

It wasn’t long ago that DeMarcus Cousins was considered the best center in the NBA. He was an absolute force on the offensive end, scoring at will against anyone who tried to slow him down. In fact, the only one who honestly had any success slowing Boogie down in a game, was himself.

The interest from the Dallas Mavericks was, of course, very high early on. He was the best big man in the league and he was in a terrible situation playing for the Sacramento Kings who were going nowhere. Everyone knew he would want out when he got a chance, it was just a matter of where he might want to go

The Mavs were no dream destination for big time free agents for some reason. The franchise was well-respected as was Dirk Nowitzki, but no one wanted to come over and try out for the spotlight in Dallas. For this reason, the Mavs decided to try a bit of a different tactic and went out and signed Boogie’s little brother, Jaleel Cousins, who never actually played in an NBA game.

This summer, things are looking different. The Dallas Mavericks are boasting one of the most exciting young duos in the league with Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis and they also just happen to have a ton of free cap space to sign someone new. For the first time in a long time, Mavs fans have their hopes up about free agency.

Boogie is coming off of a small, one-year deal with the Golden State Warriors which he signed in order to come back from his achilles tear and be playing by the end of the season. This was all done in order to be back and healthy in order to earn a big money contract in the summer of 2019.

Well, unfortunately, that plan did not work out very well. Boogie tore his left quad muscle in the first round of the playoffs for the Warriors. The injury was a non-contact injury and it was the same leg that he tore his achilles on. All of these things make his status going forward very risky and difficult to take a chance on for NBA teams.

The injury history is the main reason the Mavs need to steer clear of Cousins. There is a chance that he will come back and will be great again, but I would say the chance is fairly low at this point. The Mavs are moving forward with a young core and Cousins would not fit that mold. No matter the case, I think that any hit on the cap would be too much to justify bringing in Cousins.

I hope DeMarcus Cousins recovers and is able to play at a high level again. He is a great player and has had a tough career so far and I just hope that something good can happen for the guy. He may not be the right guy for the Mavericks, but I do hope he finds a good situation for himself going forward.