Summary

After only able to get a one-year, $3 million contract from the Lakers this past summer, Cousins tore his ACL and was on pace to miss the entire season before being waived by the Lakers in February. Due to his health concerns, Cousins may only get minimum-salary offers this offseason. If teams were hesitant to give him a significant offer this summer, they will be even more hesitant next summer.

 

Cousins may never get back to his peak athletically, making him much less of a threat on offense, and even more of a liability on defense. However, if he can hit enough shots to be a reliable stretch big, he could keep his career going. You can't help but feel for Cousins, who has likely lost close to $100 million in career earnings due to injuries in the past few seasons.

 

Cap Considerations

Cousins was waived by the Lakers in February and did not sign another NBA contract. The Lakers do not have any form of Cousins's Bird rights, and therefore would need to use cap space or their Mid-Level Exception to re-sign Cousins, or he would need to return on a minimum-contract.

 

Since Cousins will not warrant a starting salary of over $9.3 million, even teams without cap space would be able to get him. He may even only demand a minimum-contract making, him available for all teams.