DeMarcus Cousins ruptured his left Achilles during the 2017-18 season. But it wasn't the injury that really caused Boogie's career to spiral downwards. It was what happened after that.
According to DeMarcus, one week after his surgery, New Orleans Pelicans GM Dell Demps visited him in L.A., where he was rehabbing, while the team was slated to face the two Los Angeles teams on a road trip. Boogie thought his boss was there to check on him, but Demps wanted to discuss business.
"He's probably there maybe 10 minutes. In the midst of that, he starts talking contracts, and I don't have an agent around or anything like that…So once started kinda talking about it, and he never mentioned numbers or anything, he just kind of started the conversations of 'You know your value has dropped since the injury,'" the big man recalled .
Wrong time
Considering the circumstances, Cousins was shocked that Demps was trying to have that conversation. That's why he told his GM he wasn't ready to talk yet. Fortunately, Demps agreed, and they went their separate ways after that.
Despite that, DeMarcus said he was confident about returning to New Orleans. The Pelicans were coming off a 48-win season, during which they made the second round of the playoffs. They had Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, and Rajon Rondo, whom Boogie convinced to join them.
When it was time to negotiate, Cousins knew he wouldn't get the max because of his injury. But he didn't expect what happened next.
"With Dell Demps, he took offense to me not wanting to speak," DeMarcus continued. "So then it was, you know, the conversation was, 'We don't want you back; you were difficult to deal with.' So I'm like, all right, in my head, I'm like, 'Damn, like you don't even want me back?'
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What if Cousins never got hurt?
After failed contract negotiations with the Pelicans, Boogie went to Golden State, with New Orleans wasting what could have been a special group.
Before he got hurt, Cousins was having a fantastic season, averaging career-highs in rebounds (12.9), assists (5.9), and steals (1.6) while scoring 25.2 points per contest. More importantly, he had good chemistry with AD, who also had a breakout campaign.
"We sweep Portland first round, and we go second round, lose 4-1 to Golden State, but it was like…you say that what if, and I know for a fu**** fact that we're winning a chip that year. Nobody could fu** with us. Golden State was too small. Draymond could only guard one of us. And the connection me and him had?" Davis said during his appearance on D'Angelo Russell's podcast.
The Pelicans still could have been successful after Boogie recovered from his injury. Instead, Dell drove Cousins out of New Orleans, resulting in AD demanding a trade. With the Pelicans struggling, Demps was fired at the 2019 All-Star weekend.
Related: Cousins on certain media personalities criticizing him: "MF can't walk a flight of stairs, and he gets to determine what's great?"
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