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Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
Last updated: 9/30/2019
Summary
Injuries have really cut Cousins's prime short. In the last three years, Cousins has torn his left Achilles, injured his quad, and torn his left ACL. During the 25 games he played for the Rockets this season, over half of his field goal attempts came from three, whereas the highest percentage before that was 30% in the '17-'18 season in New Orleans. However, after joining the Clippers Cousins got back into the post more, and even had moments in the playoffs where he was able to score quickly off the bench.
Although injuries have sapped him of some of his offensive abilities, it's his defense that is really the problem. Cousins can no longer guard in space at all, really limiting his ability to stay on the court. However, those deficiencies matter less against second units, so Cousins can be effective in the right matchup.
Cap Considerations
Cousins will be an unrestricted free agent with a $1.7 million cap hold and Non-Bird Rights. This means that the highest starting salary the Clippers could offer him using the Non-Bird Exception is $3.2 million. This should be enough to retain Cousins, since he settled for the minimum to come to Los Angeles. Alternatively, the Clippers could use their Mid-Level Exception or Bi-Annual Exception to re-sign Cousins if he demands more than $3.2 million.
Other teams will have multiple ways to sign Cousins as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, or possibly even the Room MLE or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. Since he signed a minimum contract last offseason, teams will hope to get him at the minimum this summer too.
Potential Teams: Clippers, Raptors, Hornets, Wizards, Lakers
Predicted Contract: 1-year, $2.6 million ($1.7 million cap hit) with the Clippers
Last updated: 6/28/2021
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