The NBA world has been aflame since the Golden State Warriors signed DeMarcus Cousins. But isn’t this what the other 29 teams were indirectly asking for?
I get it. When you see or hear the words “Golden State Warriors sign DeMarcus Cousins,” you also feel, taste and smell them. It’s too soon for most NBA outsiders, insiders or members to see the team-that-shall-not-be-named associated with a player of Cousins’ magnitude during the early part of the year’s seventh month.
On July 2, it was announced that Cousins was going to the Warriors for the taxpayer Mid-Level Exception. Never mind that he had no other serious offers, or that Golden State was simply acting in its best interests as any team would, or that he was just midway through rehabbing a torn Achilles tendon.
The “NBA is ruined” cries did not quite reach a Kevin Durant-level pitch, but they weren’t far off. It certainly overshadowed LeBron James — still considered for good reason to be the world’s best basketball player — going to the Los Angeles Lakers — still considered for some reason to be the world’s greatest franchise.
Such is the NBA in 2018. The Golden State Warriors have established themselves as a dynasty, and in the era of immediate broadcast reaction, no less.
A few days have passed, and the hottest takes have calmed down. However, there is a deeper story not being told — the story not only of how the league let Cousins end up a Warrior, but why. Here are three reasons the hysteria has been overblown.