Anthony Davis called the Pelicans losing DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo “tough.” Maybe relatedly, Davis decided to leave New Orleans.
Now, Davis, Cousins and Rondo will reunite with the Lakers.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN:
Free agent center DeMarcus Cousins has agreed to a one-year deal with the Lakers, agent Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
Free agent Rajon Rondo is signing a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, league sources tell @ramonashelburne and me.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times:
Can confirm that Rajon Rondo is signing a two-year deal with the Lakers. It's for the minimum.
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) July 6, 2019
The Lakers’ first several free-agent agreements were with players who contribute without the ball – Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, JaVale McGee, Quinn Cook, Jared Dudley and Troy Daniels. That’s important on a team led by LeBron James, who should have the offense run through him.
Cousins and Rondo are departures from the strategy of loading up on complementary players.
LeBron can’t do everything alone. There’s a fine line between a helpful additional creator and someone who clashes with LeBron.
Both Cousins and Rondo appear to be past their peaks. Cousins, who turns 29 this summer, has missed substantial time the last couple years with a ruptured Achilles and torn quad. It’ll take major work for him to regain his star status or anything close to it. Rondo, 33, has exited his prime.
Cousins likely came cheap, maybe even a minimum contract. The market on him had cooled. Considering his upside, this was a fine bet by the Lakers based on basketball ability. He’s so skilled for his size. Cousins could work well enough with LeBron and Davis.
Rondo, on the other hand, has already shown to be a terrible fit with LeBron. Rondo might even be the Lakers’ starting point guard. Though the fit is awful, there aren’t many capable point guards remaining in free agency. The problem was the Lakers putting themselves in position where Rondo has even a case as the best option.
Cousins and Rondo also bring a lot of, um, personality to a team that already has plenty. There is risk of increasing locker room combustibility, even at their low salaries. As everyone predicted, that became a problem last season. Apparently, the Lakers aren’t too concerned about a repeat.
