DeMarcus Cousins hurt knee

[gpap]

Wow, that sucks.

He seems to be breaking down, which is kinda surprising.

With his brawn and muscle, his body type never struck me as the one to break down at a younger age.

[Adelaide Celt]

Good luck to him with his recovery. Torn Achilles, quad and ACL in the space of a year and a half. Pretty devastating.

[Birdman]

Good luck to him with his recovery. Torn Achilles, quad and ACL in the space of a year and a half. Pretty devastating.

I wouldnt be surprise if he retires

[Wretch]

I feel for Cousins and this definitely hurts the Lakers depth but it gives the Lakers coaches an excuse to use their best line up which will have AD at the 5, Kuzma and/or LeBron as wings.

[liam]

Wow, that sucks.

He seems to be breaking down, which is kinda surprising.

With his brawn and muscle, his body type never struck me as the one to break down at a younger age.

I think that's he's always carried too much weight. He should attempt to slim down. It always sucks when talented players are limited by injuries. 

[Birdman]

Can Lakers get an injury exempt?

[footey]

Gutted for Boogie, three injuries each time he's got a shot to contribute on a good team instead of the dumpster fire Kings. (he helped that fire keep going sure, but he also came up there so chicken/egg thing)

I don't think this really changes the Lakers outlook for this season.

I do.  He was their third best player (assuming he was healthy), and good back up to AD.  McGee is not. Gave them great size up front.

[saltlover]

Can Lakers get an injury exempt?

Probably.  An NBA assigned doctor would have to find it substantially likely Cousins would miss this entire season (through June 15th, so including playoffs).  Based on the timing of the injury and the typical 9-12 month recovery period from and ACL tear, I expect a doctor would indeed find it likely that Cousins would be out all year.

That said, the disabled player exception they could get for Cousins is only $1.875 million, so they’re in minimum salary territory anyway

[saltlover]

Gutted for Boogie, three injuries each time he's got a shot to contribute on a good team instead of the dumpster fire Kings. (he helped that fire keep going sure, but he also came up there so chicken/egg thing)

I don't think this really changes the Lakers outlook for this season.

I do.  He was their third best player (assuming he was healthy), and good back up to AD.  McGee is not. Gave them great size up front.

I guess you were buying the Lakers then.  I have always felt they were a team that would struggle to make the playoffs due to lack of depth and having a TON of injury-prone players.  This injury, while unfortunate, is not terribly surprising in terms of the Lakers’ entire team.  It was always likely that they’d be missing some players for most of the year.

[Bobshot]

Torn ACL. His career might be over.

[Who]

Probably helps LAL more than it hurts them.

Now they won't waste time playing those stupid slow footed lineups that (1) fail to make the best use of their two MVP caliber players and (2) hugely decrease the amount of time that their most effective lineups would be used.

Not nice to say (about a player getting injured) but this is a good thing for LAL. Now they can build their team dynamics properly right from the get go instead of wasting half a season or more on a half-brained idea.

[fairweatherfan]

I don't think this really changes the Lakers outlook for this season.

It puts more pressure to shift AD to the 5 more often, which he probably won't like but if anything seems like it'd improve their prospects a bit in the modern NBA.

[ozgod]

I feel for Boogie, after all the work he put in after the Achilles...he had mentioned in an interview that there were many days where he just thought of giving up. Finally gets back on the court and then suffers a quad injury which affected his market in free agency...then suffers an ACL in the offseason. He deserves some good luck for a change.

[DefenseWinsChamps]

It's a huge bummer for Cousins. If he could have bided his time for one more year, he likely would have gotten a sizeable offer in free agency 2020, because there just aren't that many top tier players in that free agent class.

It's looking less and less likely he ever makes another big NBA contract.

He was one of the biggest name players to take a serious paycut to play in a competitive environment. He will probably be a cautionary tale for vets thinking about the same thing. This could lead to more guys signing bigger contracts with worse teams, which could mean more competitive balance.

[bopna]

His career trajectory now is pretty much like JO.

He can still be a serviceable backup but in no way shape or form can he manage large minutes.