Camila Sosa
Had it not been for injuries, DeMarcus Cousins‘ career might have ended as one of the bests ever for a center in the NBA. He knows it, his fans know it and so do many teams in the league. Therefore, the current backup center for the Denver Nuggets confessed the gift he has in store for all those detractors of his career.
Living up to his outspoken quality, Cousins held an interview with Marc Spears of andscape.com on Monday in which he revealed that he plans to give a big shout-out to all those who speak ill of his performance on the boards: the middle finger.
“As long as they appreciate me, that’s all that really matters to me. Everybody doesn’t appreciate everybody’s greatness. There are people out here that hate on Michael Jordan. There are people that hate on LeBron James. People that hate Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, the list goes on. For those that are gracious to my career, I appreciate you. But the rest of them, you know what it is. Middle finger to you.
DeMarcus Cousins on those who do and don’t appreciate his career
DeMarcus Cousins’ surprise came on the same day that he issued strong statements against the Sacramento Kings, the team with which he made his NBA debut, with which he spent most of his best years on the circuit and for which he has received harsh criticism.
“What did Sac do for me? Besides say my name [draft day]. I did more for them than they did for me. That’s just being honest. Just being 100% honest. I had two owners, three GMs, seven coaches in seven years. I was there seven years.”
DeMarcus Cousins on his time with the Sacramento Kings
One of his main detractors for these comments, and for which we assume he will take one of the souvenirs that Cousins wants to give to his detractors, is the player’s former coach at the Kings: George Karl, who immediately responded to the controversial player’s statements.
“Paid you approx $50M and gave you the opportunity to play professional basketball for a living,” Karl emphasized.
George Karl on DeMarcus Cousins’ comments to the Kings
And while we await confirmation of Cousins’ gift to Karl, we recall that the center played seven seasons with the Kings in which he was selected to the All-Rookie team in 2010-11, participated in three All-Star Games and was twice named to the All-NBA second team. He played a total of 470 games, averaging 21.1 points per game, 10.8 rebounds and three assists.
DeMarcus Cousins and His Contribution to Denver Nuggets
DeMarcus Cousins’ current action with the Denver Nuggets is probably the best moment of his career since returning last season from a torn ACL that kept him from playing all of 2019-20.
After spending time with three teams prior to Denver, Cousins had not been able to be as important to his game as he was in the 31 games he played in the regular round as an understudy to Nikola Jokic.
Thanks to his 8.9 points per game, 5.5 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 13.9 minutes in the regular round, not only did the Nuggets gain bench experience, but they also gained a key piece with which they could give their star more rest.
At just 31 years old, we’ll see if Cousins can stay healthy and earn a contract to return in a more stellar plan next season. In the meantime, for those who want to get a message from him, the center is willing to deliver it at any time.
