Following a growing number of former NBA players, four-time All-Star Demarcus Cousins has signed to play in Puerto Rico after going unsigned in the United States this season.
Still only 32, Cousins will play for the Guaynabo Mets, who currently employ former NBA players Ed Davis and Renaldo Balkman, not to mention assistant coach Milt Palacio, who previously played for the Vancouver Grizzlies and Boston Celtics, among other teams.
‘DeMarcus is one of the best basketball players of his generation, and from a talent standpoint, he will be one of the best to ever play [in the Puerto Rican league],’ Mets co-owner Marc Grossman said in a statement. ‘His ability to shoot and stretch the floor should be a great fit.’
The fifth-overall pick out of Kentucky in the 2010 NBA Draft, Cousins has played for the Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks over his career.
He’s averaged 19.6 points a game for his career, but far less since rupturing his achilles with the Pelicans in 2018.
DeMarcus Cousins has signed to play in Puerto Rico after going unsigned in the US
As Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma noticed, Puerto Rico has many former NBA players
Cousins resurfaced with the Warriors in 2018-19, but tore the ACL in his left knee after joining the Lakers in 2019.
Since then, Cousins has signed a series of short-term deals to stay in the NBA as he tried to regain the form that made an All-NBA Second Team selection in 2015 and 2016.
Cousins recently told retired NBA legend Kevin Garnett that he believes he’s one of the three best centers in the game of basketball.
‘As of right now, I’m the third best center in the league,’ Cousins told Garnett on the latter’s podcast.
The 6-foot-11 center joins a Puerto Rican league that currently boasts several former NBA players, including Norris Cole, Terrence Jones, Hassan Whiteside, Brandon Knight, Tyreke Evans, Earl Clark, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Elfrid Payton and Eric Paschall.
