It’s reasonable to believe that new Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins left a lot of money on the table by signing a one-year, $5.3 million deal with the defending champs earlier this week.
We have no idea the totality of offers that were presented to the four-time All-Star. Though, we now know that Cousins was offered a lucrative deal by his former New Orleans Pelicans squad.
According to Marc Stein of The New York Times, New Orleans offered Cousins a two-year, $40 million contract late last season after the big man suffered an Achilles injury.
If that’s the case, it’s reasonable to conclude that the Pelicans offered Cousins more than Golden State this summer.
Coming off a torn Achilles, Cousins found a soft market for his services. He says he wants to be back for training camp, but a more logical conclusion is that Golden State will take it slow with him. This injury scared off a lot of potential suitors, the Los Angeles Lakers included.
More on the Lakers and DeMarcus Cousins: League sources say they remain Cousins fans but felt they had to pass on signing him now — even at a reduced rate — because the Lakers don't share the Warriors' luxury of waiting until January or February for Cousins' return from injury
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 4, 2018
So while Golden State has received a lot of push back by adding a fifth All-Star and potential fifth future Hall of Famer to its lineup, other teams certainly had an opportunity to sign Cousins. They just didn’t take the bait