The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly releasing DeMarcus Cousins to make roster room for Markieff Morris, but Cousins will remain with the team.
Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium shared Saturday that Cousins will stay with the Lakers to continue rehabbing his torn ACL, which occurred prior to the 2019-20 season.
Charania also mentioned that the Lakers have appreciated Cousins’ influence in the locker room, which had a lot to do with the decision to keep him around even after his release.
Cousins will remain out of commission for the remainder of the campaign as he continues to rehab his knee injury and will be a free agent this coming summer.
He’s suffered three major lower-body injuries since January of 2018, so it’s going to be interesting to see what kind of interest he generates. Though, given the way the Lakers are dealing with things now, nobody should be surprised if he ends up back in Los Angeles for the 2020-21 campaign.