NBA free agency rumors: DeMarcus Cousins waiting to see what Lakers do

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A year and two days after he shocked the NBA by agreeing to a contract with the Warriors, former Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins remains on the market.

Cousins reportedly spoke with San Antonio Spurs wing DeMar DeRozan and “some star players of other teams,” according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, and even parted ways with his agent. But Cousins reportedly might be holding out for something else.

Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press tweeted Wednesday that the “feeling around the league” is that Cousins is waiting to see what the Los Angeles Lakers do.

The Lakers themselves reportedly are playing the waiting game. After clearing out enough salary-cap space for a third max contract, the Lakers are hoping to beat out the cross-town Clippers and the defending champion Toronto Raptors for Kawhi Leonard’s signature.

If Jalen Rose’s prediction comes to fruition and Leonard returns to Toronto, Cousins would represent an interesting fallback option for LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Lakers. Cousins played with Anthony Davis on the New Orleans Pelicans for parts of two seasons, but Cousins’ ruptured Achilles threw a wrench into the Pelicans’ plans to pair the dominant big men.

Last season, Cousins admitted that he thought about the “pairing all the time,” so the chance to reunite with Davis -- and play with James -- must be pretty appealing. Said reunion would not be good news for either of Cousins’ former teams in Northern California.

It’s better for the Warriors than the alternative of Leonard in LA, but Cousins on the Lakers likely would portend the arrival of a couple other players to fill that max slot. Plus, Golden State saw that Cousins began rounding into form toward the end of a season in which he averaged 16.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. His torn quadriceps in the first round of the playoffs halted his end-of-season momentum, but a recovered Cousins as the Lakers’ third option gives the new-look Warriors another team to fend off on their path to the postseason.

The same can be said of the Kings, who finished ahead of the Lakers in the standings but missed the NBA playoffs by nine games. The reported Davis trade already vaulted LA over Sacramento, and Cousins could help solidify that position. Seeing a former King on a title contender should sting, even if Sacramento and its fans got a glimpse of it with Cousins in The Bay last season.

[RELATED: Three teams that put Dubs on notice in West]

It’s no guarantee Cousins remains in the West, though. The Washington Wizards reportedly spoke “briefly” with Cousins, according to The Washington Post’s Candace Buckner. When former Kentucky teammate John Wall is healthy, that would give Cousins another chance to play with a good friend.

The Warriors and Kings should prefer that reunion to one in LA.

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