Blazers almost acquired DeMarcus Cousins in a sign-and-trade

Instead of ruining the NBA by joining the Golden State Warriors, DeMarcus Cousins was almost a Portland Trail Blazer.

The NBA continues to ramp up its craziness during the first two days of free agency. As if LeBron James signing with the Los Angeles Lakers wasn’t enough, DeMarcus Cousins signed with the Golden State Warriors.

Cousins’ decision rivals that of Kevin Durant’s in terms of harming the league. The Warriors now have five All-Stars on its roster, each of whom play a different position and can all play simultaneously.

CJ McCollum, along with many other NBA players, voiced his feelings with Cousins for the “easy way out” move.

But for Boogie, this decision is his “smartest move ever.” And when you look deeper, it really is.

The big man likely didn’t have as big of a market as he should have due to the achilles injury sustained last season. According to Chris Haynes, the two teams battling it out for Cousins were the Celtics and Warriors, neither of which have enough cap space to offer a max contract.

By joining the Warriors, Cousins guarantees a championship (and his first ever playoff games). Plus, the deal is only for one year, so he can be a free agent while healthy and therefore earn more money.

Blazers involvement

Chris Haynes later reported that the Portland Trail Blazers were close to acquiring DeMarcus Cousins as well.

The move would have been a sign-and-trade that likely involved CJ McCollum. The New Orleans Pelicans need an additional guard after Rajon Rondo joined the bandwagon of player signing with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Such a deal fell through as Cousins and Jusuf Nurkic share the same agent, hinting that Nurkic might have also been a part of the package.

If this sign-and-trade went through, it would have been a major risk for the Blazers.

For one, Cousins will miss a significant portion of the season from his achilles injury. Two, there’s no guarantee that he’s the same player when he does return.

From Kevin Pelton:

"“As I’ve noted before, the track record for players coming back from a ruptured Achilles tendon shows them playing about 8 percent worse the following season than projected based on their pre-injury stats.”"

And three, possibly giving up both McCollum and/or Nurkic sets the Blazers back as a team, no matter what form Cousins returned in.

The primary benefit of making this deal would be preventing Golden State from becoming even more unbeatable than it already is. That and seeing Cousins and Meyers Leonard‘s first exchange as teammates (assuming Leonard wasn’t a part of the deal).

Next: Blazers sign another guard in Seth Curry

DeMarcus Cousins will always be a big name player that the Blazers fans wish they could have. However, his achilles injury and the amount Portland would have to give up in the sign and trade wouldn’t be worth it.

Being optimistic, it’s good to see Neil Olshey push for a difference-making free agent. While he’s only signed guards on short, cheap contracts, Olshey is out there trying to close a win-now deal.