Boston Celtics: 2 FA big men Cs should pursue for veteran’s minimum

DeMarcus Cousins

Another name that was thrown around last summer was DeMarcus Cousins. While Danny Ainge didn’t want to add such a big personality to a team that was in a growth phase, the team has had a sufficient amount of growth to facilitate adding a win-now gamble like “Boogie”.

Things were different around this time last year regarding Cousins’ free agency. He has since had a torn ACL completely wipe out his 2019-20 season. The team that signed him–the Los Angeles Lakers–won a championship after replacing him with Dwight Howard. Howard turned out to play the “Tyson Chandler role” Kobe Bryant wanted him to serve in back in 2013, but this time it was alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis instead of Bryant and Paul Gasol.

This was my take in May 2019:

"Cousins is still 28 years old and can conceivably have a few elite years left if he can recover from injury. He should still be considered a splash, and his level of play would help give the Celtics an identity alongside the rugged play of Marcus Smart."

He is 29 years old now, and he didn’t quite recover from the Achilles injury he suffered in 2018. Two straight years of debilitating injuries mean Cousins might not have the most robust market this offseason…making a potential path to Beantown plausible.

Perhaps a prove-it deal like Howard signed in lieu of his own injury last summer could be what brings Cousins aboard. The Boston Celtics need to focus on combatting the elite big men of the Eastern Conference, and Cousins would be quite the weapon to deploy situationally against the Bam Adebayo type obstacles the Cs may face in the playoffs.