But not many people really consider it from Cousins' point of view, including carnival warriors fans. People only know that it will take at least half a year for Cousins, 28, to recover, but the Warriors can wait-in other words, the Warriors are the only team with capital, and they can completely make Cousins recover and make great achievements in the playoffs.
However, how many people thought of a question: What made Cousins accept this contract with only his early 5 million?
For the ring? I'm afraid it's not yet time: if you don't find a brotherhood, 28 is obviously not the age to hold your thighs. So the root cause is the simplest: he didn't get the contract.
Rumor has it that Pelican once offered Cousins a two-year contract worth $40 million, but I don't know whether it was before or after his injury. We only felt Cousins' injustice, frustration and anger unilaterally from the interview, but he soon realized his gaffe: Pelicans are not the team that has the obligation to provide contract renewal.
Another detail is: go to the soldier, who called on his own initiative.
He contacted Bob meyers, the general manager of the Warriors, and then contacted Curry, Durant and Green by phone-this is not a copy of Durant recruited by the Warriors, but a story of desperate self-recommendation, which is a bit ironic and sour, but fortunately, it got a * * * sound, and everyone created a happy scene: for the Warriors, this is the best explanation for the fans-they only have a mini middle class, the former.
But for Cousins, he is the one who knows himself best: at this moment, he can become a warrior only because of his past resume and the team's hope for him, not because he has himself here.
The concept of "one of our own" even runs through his whole career.
There is no need to go into details about the ending of the Warriors' year. He just broke the playoff spell and played eight games, but the championship slipped away before his eyes. When Durant and Thompson fell one after another, he realized the most ruthless ending of becoming a mercenary: no decent farewell, the contract expired, and it was time to leave.
He was going to a place where he had his own people, so he came to the Lakers, and Davis and Rondo actively recruited him. However, the familiar 15 jersey does not belong to him after all. In a training session on August 19, there was no confrontation injury. The result of the examination was that the anterior cruciate ligament was torn, and his season was gone and his peak was gone.
On February 23, 2020, the Lakers announced that Cousins had been laid off.
Back when he was king, he was high-spirited and fearless of strong enemies. His strength is constantly improving, from the strongest low-post monster to a stable three-point range, to an all-round super center who can dribble through a dragon and occasionally send wonderful passes. People began to frantically look for templates for him: Buckley, moses malone and O 'Neill. One thing is certain, he is already the first center in the league.
In the era of the decline of the center, he defended the dignity of the center with dazzling technology and extremely solid offensive ability in the restricted area.
In the first five years of his career, he has been a member of all-star and second-team team. He is the first player to win 20 points, 20 rebounds 10 assists in two consecutive games after Chamberlain. He is also regarded as the cornerstone star to rebuild the king. More importantly, he and the king are deeply in love-on September 30, 2065438+03, he renewed his contract with the king for four years, with a maximum salary of 62 million. Subsequently, he donated $654.38 million to communities and families in Sacramento. He enthusiastically participated in community care activities and said that he would retire here more than once. The media also spared no effort to advise the king to seek help for him. But the next chain reaction made everyone a loser.
On 20 15, King's legendary center Divac took office and became the king's housekeeper. Later, he fired Mike Malone and hired george karl as the head coach. Since then, there have been frequent conflicts between Cousins and Carl.
It is reported that Cousins' agent told Divac at the end of the 20 14- 15 season that he wanted to trade his clients to the Lakers, but other teams could do the same. The agent also warned Divac that the conflict between Cousins and Carl was very fierce. If the king didn't want to see chaos, he'd better do something quickly.
Cousins later denied this myth, but it is obvious that this myth did not come out of thin air. With a better understanding and interpretation, it is easy to restore the story: Cousins disliked Carl very much, and he tried to coerce the team to dismiss Carl by forcing the palace. In his opinion, as the top player of the team, he should be able to decide to change the mismatched coach.
But he forgot one thing: Karl was brought here by Divac, who signed a four-year contract, and Divac was not his confidant.
This clumsy forced palace finally buried a time bomb. Even though everyone who knows Cousins knows that he never wants to leave the team, there is no doubt that Divac doesn't like him to do so and has moved to get rid of his idea.
Unfortunately, the new terms of the labor agreement adopted by the League on 20 16 accelerated his resignation.
In this special clause named "designated veteran", players aged 7-9 are allowed to sign a top salary of 35% of the starting salary with the team after meeting the corresponding conditions. At first, the league thought that this clause could help the small ball team keep its big name. George of the Pacer and Cousins of the King were also cited as examples.
This maximum salary reached 200 million in five years, 30 million more than the previous five years' 65.438+700 million. At that time, 200 million yuan was obviously an astronomical figure.
The league thinks that money will make players stop yearning for big cities and want to stay. But they forgot one thing: the team may not be willing to pay the money. Can a small city really earn so many dollars?
Both George who wanted to leave voluntarily and Cousins who wanted to stay eventually left the team because of this clause.
Later, it was reported that Carl had been pushing to get rid of Cousins throughout the summer of 20 15, and Cousins responded by posting a snake expression in the grass on Twitter. The quarrel between the two men lasted for the next whole year. The King finally ended the season with 33 wins and 49 losses, and Carl was fired.
Is this Cousins' victory? He may really think so. His classmate Davis sent a text message inviting him to play in the pelican. He didn't care at first, but just set off for New Orleans to prepare for the 20 17 All-Star. But in the second half of the all-star game, a shocking news came: the king had traded him to the Pelican and told him not to go back. I'll give you something in the future.
Cousins was very angry. After the All-Star Game, he frantically searched for Divac and his boss Rana Dave, just trying to get an explanation, but he found nothing. He said that he knew he might be traded, but as a top player of the team, it was an insult to trade without any notice or warning, even on the All-Star Day.
"I began to blame myself and found myself ridiculous," he said. "When you enter the NBA, you will know that this is a business. How can you be loyal to a team that has no respect for people? I am such a fool. "
Divac quickly gave Dalglish an extremely official response, saying that the team was worried that Cousins would leave as a free agent on 20 18. Because the King doesn't intend to offer him a five-year 200 million contract, but if he tells Cousins, he will be dissatisfied and affect the atmosphere of the team. When this sentence reached Cousins' ear, he was furious again. "Before the All-Star game, he pretended to come to me and promised that he would never trade me. Am I not honest enough with them? " What makes him think that I am the kind of person who is unfaithful for money? ! "
Divak gave a more incredible answer. "I have experienced trading, and I know that it feels bad." He talked about the scene that the Lakers were sent to the Hornets for Kobe Bryant in the 1996 draft. "It feels like being driven away with a baseball bat." But Divac went on to say, "If everyone's mood is taken into account in every operation, it will be very difficult to do this job. I deliberately chose after the All-Star, otherwise he wouldn't even have to play the All-Star. I just want to tell him that I can't guarantee everyone's satisfaction. "
Cousins doesn't like bureaucratic jargon, but the king has passed. He chose the No.0 jersey, indicating that he would forget everything in the past. In the pelican, he quickly reached a tacit understanding with Davis. 20 17- 18 season won absolute ball rights, including shooting, coordination and rhythm control. Rondo was responsible for throwing the ball to him at half-time, and he showed the strength of a superstar to the fullest.
25.2 points 12.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.6 steals 1.6 blocks. Behind such horrible data, he likes it here more and more. He still goes his own way, interacting with the fans and being alert to the management. But the strength is impeccable: 40 points, 22 rebounds, 4 blocks, 32 points and 20 rebounds. 2065438+20081October 22nd, he scored 44 points, 24 rebounds 10 assists against Bulls, becoming the first player to get such data in 46 years after Jabbar. Against the Rockets four days later, he scored 15 points, 13 rebounds, 1 1 assists. At the last moment of the game, his left achilles tendon was torn.
He still hasn't made the playoffs.
Davis played an all-star game in his position 0, and he made an agreement with Davis and Rondo to play together later. He thought he could feel the atmosphere of the playoffs and finals while recovering from the Warriors and become a member of a great team. However, when he came back with bloody courage, fate was still playing a big joke: the biggest impact of achilles tendon injury was that people could no longer exert their strength at the same time as before.
The end result is that the possibility of injuries to other parts of the knee and calf is infinitely increased. So in the second game of the playoffs, he tore the quadriceps of his left thigh. When he scored double-digit points in three finals, he suddenly realized that as a super center, his housekeeping skills had been completely exhausted by injuries.
The Lakers fired him in February and signed Markoff Morris, but they still want him to stay on the team and continue to recover. Unfortunately, the epidemic has once again ruined the plot of family reunion. Instead of going to Orlando with the team, he stayed in the chat group of Lakers players to cheer up his former teammates from time to time. After winning the championship, thick eyebrows called him first. He still has deep feelings with the trio of thick eyebrows and Rondo, and the Lakers also said they would give him a championship ring. But what he wanted to hear more was to return to the team, but in the end he failed to wait for a formal commitment.
He signed a one-year basic salary with the Rockets, and the center who wanted to play slowly went to the fastest team. This signing seems so abnormal and strange, but it doesn't matter anymore. The basic salary is not guaranteed. Cousins, who just celebrated his 30th birthday, is still waiting for this day. To his regret, in the autumn of 2020, money, affection and respect still got nothing. Every time the node, didn't bring him much affection. Perhaps he anticipated all this long ago and said frankly, "Adversity is never a bad thing, but it can bring me more motivation and prepare me for the next time." However, his last appearance was in June 20 19. Cousins, who has never studied the way of the world and just wants to concentrate on playing ball, seems to really not belong to this era and will eventually disappear into the memory of fans.