Hoops Habit
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FanDuel NBA Daily Picks: Fantasy Basketball Lineup For December 7

By Brendan Galella

Dec 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) goes up for a shot against Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) goes up for a shot against Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /
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DeMarcus Cousins is averaging numbers the NBA hasn’t seen in more than 15 years and has become the top FanDuel NBA option at center in the process.

Dec 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) goes up for a shot against Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 2, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) goes up for a shot against Boston Celtics center Al Horford (42) during the first half at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /

Shaquille O’Neal purchased a minority share of the Sacramento Kings, mainly to serve as a mentor for two-time All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins.

Twenty games into the 2016-17 season, Cousins, along with Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis, is posting scoring and rebounding numbers no player since O’Neal in his prime managed to tally.

By averaging 34.1 points per game over his last six outings, including five 30-point efforts, Cousins has raised his season scoring average to 29.1 points per game, the third-highest in the NBA.

With the scoring and a rebounding average of 10.5 per game, he is on pace to become the first player since O’Neal in 1999-2000 to post more than 29 points and 10 rebounds per game, joining just 13 other players in league history.

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No player has averaged 30 points and 10 rebounds per game since Karl Malone in 1989-90, but Westbrook and Davis are both averaging those figures a quarter of the way through the season.

Cousins has scored 30 or more points in 10 of his 20 appearances, with seven coming in his last 10 games, largely because of a potent 3-point shot.

After connecting just 11 times from 3-point range during the first five years of his career, Cousins has evolved into a long range marksman, converting 38.3 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc, the second-highest percentage among all centers.

During his torrid scoring stretch over the past six games, Cousins has converted 19-of-42 attempts from 3-point range (45.2 percent), as the Kings are willing to allow him to shoot from anywhere, or as often, as he chooses.

Along with the incorporation of the 3-point shot into his game, Cousins leads all players in points per game scored in the post, contributing 6.3 each night.

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The usage rate of 37 percent ranks second only to Westbrook, and his 21.6 shot attempts per game are the third-most in the league. Cousins has attempted at least 22 shots in each of his past six games.

Even with the exceptional averages of Cousins, the Kings have managed to win just seven times this season and rank 11th in the Western Conference, in danger of missing out of the playoffs for the 11th consecutive year.

The struggles in Sacramento once again have Cousins engulfed in trade rumors, as he is set to become an unrestricted free agent during the summer of 2018.

No matter which team he plays for, Cousins is a welcome addition to any FanDuel NBA roster, especially after his recent scoring stretch.

Cousins is just a 49-point effort away from joining an even more exclusive club, averaging 30 points and 10 rebounds per game, a feat O’Neal never achieved.