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Pelicans Can Afford Davis And Cousins -- NOLA Just Became A Destination

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This article is more than 7 years old.

DeMarcus Cousins is boogieing his way down to the Big Easy.

For the longest time, Anthony Davis' nightly brilliance had taken a backseat to the Pelicans' dearth of talent behind him on both offense and defense.

He has remained professional as New Orleans navigates a continued litany of injuries to its most important role players. This season alone, Jrue Holiday, Tyreke Evans, Omer Asik and Donatas Motiejunas together have missed nearly 50% of NOLA's 57 games so far.

But as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski, Tyreke Evans is on his way out along with Buddy Hield, Langston Galloway, and the Pels' No. 1 and No. 2 picks in this year's draft. In return, NOLA receives serviceable wing Omri Casspi and the physically indomitable Boogieman.

This changes everything.

Sitting at 23-34, the Pelicans are within spitting distance of the 8th playoff spot in the West with 25 games to play. With coach Alvin Gentry's offensive wizardry at the ready, and the ability to keep one of Cousins and Davis on the floor at all times, you can expect the Pelicans to inch closer to .500 even as they face the Rockets (twice), Spurs, Thunder, Jazz, Raptors and Hornets in the next month.

If we break it down, we're talking about joining a 28/12/2/3.8* line (Brow) with a 28/11/5/2.8* line (Boogie). Both men have great range, excellent footwork, and can wreak havoc on smaller opponents inside. Obviously, the perennial All-Stars' numbers can be expected to go down, as will their minutes, but with this trade the Pelicans have installed a rather sizable foundation for future contention in the packed Western Conference.

(*Denotes stocks, or combined steals/blocks, as coined by Bill Simmons.)

Both men also demand hefty paychecks.

If Cousins decides to stay in New Orleans this offseason, the 26-year-old veteran will be eligible for a 5-year contract worth upwards of $200 million, laughably more than his pedestrian 2017 salary ($17 million). Ironically, he will be the first player eligible to be signed under the new collective bargaining agreement's Designated Veteran Player Extension (DVPE) clause—i.e. the Kevin Durant Rule—which was designed to incentivize superstars in small markets to stay with the teams that drafted them.

But Kings gonna, uh, do what the Kings do.

Cousins' new counterpart AD—who is still only 23 years old—is on the front end of a 5-year, $127 million max contract that will net him nearly $29 million in 2020-21, when Cousins will be set for $40 million or more in the fourth year of his DVPE. The $70 million those two will eat up by then will still leave $50 million in cap space for the Pelicans to play with. Once it's time for AD to get his own $200 million extension, the Pelicans' twin towers experiment will have had plenty of time to show itself as either a colossal success or dismal failure.

I'm betting on the former. Despite their small market status, the Pelicans should be able to balance these two salaries with smart contracts and better drafting. Having Cousins will bolster their middling defense and the attention he garners will open up Davis offensively in ways he has never experienced as a professional. (And vice versa!)

Further, many more nationally-televised games will be broadcast from the Smoothie King Center, and gate receipts should become an even larger portion of the franchise's revenue in years to come. As we've seen with San Antonio, Golden State, and the Heat during the LeBron era, highly-regarded veterans are going to leave money on the table to join the Pelicans' two enormous superstars.

With this trade, NOLA has officially become a destination.

Watch out.

 

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