Lakers Agree to Terms with Cousins, Bringing Rondo Back
The Los Angeles Lakers and free agent DeMarcus Cousins have agreed to a one year contract and the team will also re-sign Rajon Rondo on a two-year deal, said league sources.
Cousins’ deal was confirmed by Excell Sports agent Jeff Schwartz to be for $3.5 million, while Rondo will earn $2.6 million and has a player option during the second year.
Cousins had drawn interest from the Miami Heat but several players on the Lakers, including former teammate with the New Orleans Pelicans Anthony Davis helped lure the center to sign with the Lakers, league sources added.
Cousins surprised NBA pundits when he signed a one-year deal for $5.3 million last July with Golden State amidst his rehabilitation from a left Achilles tendon tear.
He debuted in January with Golden State nearly a year after his Achilles surgery and played 30 games during the regular season with averages of 16.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game
During April, Cousins played his best with averages of 20 points and 11 boards per game and gave the Warriors an idea of what he could do once the postseason rolled around.
However, during Game 2 of the first round series between the Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, Cousins tore his left quadriceps.
Despite the injury that had first been expected to keep the center sidelined for the rest of the postseason, Cousins returned during the NBA Finals that included a strong performance in Game 2 leading Golden State to the win with 11 points, 10 boards and six assists.
Cousins will be 29 in August and for four straight seasons was an All-Star before he signed with Golden State.
The fifth pick overall by the Sacramento Kings in the 2010 draft, Cousins played six seasons with Sacramento before being traded to New Orleans in early 2017 and spending the final months of that season and all of the 2017-18 season with the Pelicans.
Rondo returns after playing out a one-year contract he signed with the Lakers after Los Angeles had signed LeBron James last summer.
