The Warriors Free Agency Acquisition

The Warriors and DeMarcus Cousins are joining forces. The All-star Big man, who was looking for a max contract joins on a 1 year, $5.3 million deal. This was a deal that took the NBA community by surprise. The Warriors have added to their Arsenal, and will likely remain the Number one team in the NBA for another year.

The consensus was Cousins was looking for a max deal. The Pelicans could have offered him a very lucrative deal and were keen to keep him. He had formed a very effective partnership with Davis. The Warriors could not afford another star, unless they took a discount. For them, it worked as Cousins believes he can win a title with the team. $5.3 million for the year is quite frankly, not more than 25% of what he is worth. His performances with the Pelicans last year and with the Kings have shown he is a franchise player.

The Warriors starting five

The starting five of the Warriors would consist of: Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson, Steph Curry.

Five All-star caliber players are starting for the Warriors in the 2017-18 season. Statistically, their regular season statistics from the previous season:

Durant:  26.4 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 5.8 apg, .07 spg, 1.8 bpg,  51% FG and 41% 3-point accuracy.

Green: 11 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 7.3 apg, 1.4 spg, 1.3 spg,  45% field goal accuracy.

Thompson:  20ppg, 3.8 rpg, 2.5 apg, 48% field and 44% 3-point accuracy (and a very under rated defender).

Curry: 26.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 6.1 apg, 1.6 spg, 50% field goal and 42% 3-point accuracy.

Cousins: 25.2 ppg, 12.9 rpg, 5.4 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.6 bpg, 47% field and 35% 3-point accuracy.

The Situation

The obvious thing to point out, their numbers won’t stay the same. However, it’s likely that With the exception of Green, the other players can easily average 20 points a night. With them, 35 rebounds, 25 assists a night is possible. In offensive prowess, they should be unmatched this season. All they need to do is ensure that their 2 unit, with the likes of Jordan Bell and Andre Igoudala can also sustain the rhythm.

How ball-dominant players can co-exist? It’s difficult to say. However, Durant had slotted in seamlessly with the Warriors 2 seasons ago. Chris Paul and James Harden formed a very reliable partnership. As long as Cousins can stick to the Warriors style of play, there should be no issue. With 5 all-stars, it’s possible to have 3 of them at any given time.

There are two minor downsides to Cousins. It is yet to be seen how well he recovers from his torn Achilles injury. Long term injury returns are difficult. As an emotional player, he gets into foul trouble fairly often, which could lead to ejections in tightly contested games.

With the Lakers and Houston upgrading their own rosters, and the OKC big 3 likely to remain together, the Warriors have simply upped the ante. There is no force in the entire NBA that can stop their starting unit.