It is no secret that DeMarcus Cousins is deemed as a “villain.” Cousins is once again in the news and not for performance reasons. The NBA announced on April 26th that the Denver Nuggets backup center is being fined $15,000 for an incident that occurred in Game 4 on April 24th at the Ball Arena in Denver. During the second quarter of the game, Cousins was seen kicking towels into the stands. He was returning to the bench after receiving his second personal foul. This seems to be another case of being frustrated. Regardless of Cousins’ history with the officials, he has still had a positive impact since being picked up mid-season by the Nuggets.
DeMarcus Cousins: A Long Road to Recovery
The days of DeMarcus Cousins being the most dominant big man in the league are over. He is no longer the Sacramento Kings’ version and that is okay. It has been a long and tumultuous road for Boogie Cousins to get to where he is at currently. Cousins looked like he had found a home in New Orleans paired with Anthony Davis in the 2017-18 season. Sadly, the infamous Achilles injury struck and he was never quite the same. He did come back on a loaded Golden State Warriors squad. Unfortunately, he got hurt again in the Finals against the Toronto Raptors. Since then, he has had stops at Houston, both Los Angeles teams, and Milwaukee.
His Impact on the Denver Nuggets
Since being signed to be Nikola Jokic’s backup, Boogie has been a welcome addition to the Mile High city. Say what you will about his history of getting technical fouls, sometimes that lights a fire in the rest of the team and that chip on the shoulder is exactly what this Nuggets squad needed this year.
He has come up big in some key games as well. With Denver, he has averaged 8.9 points, 5.5 rebounds per game, and a player efficiency rating of 17.6 in 431 minutes played for the Nuggets. DeMarcus Cousins has also ingratiated himself with Denver fans with his confrontations. This is due to the fact that Nuggets fans often times feel like they get the short end of the stick from the officials already. However, his temper still does flare out of control at times as we saw in Game 4. As a result, he is paying the price which is $15,000.
