Halo

DeMarcus Cousins, in his first press conference as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, opened up on playing with another superstar in Anthony Davis, being traded, his former team, the Sacramento Kings, and more.

"You've got a little fire and you've got a little ice," Cousins said of being paired with Davis, per Pelicans color analyst John DeShazier.

Cousins, without question, is the fire, but he acknowledged he might have to burn a little less hot in New Orleans, per Michael Lee of The Vertical:



He also went into more depth on the superstar pairing, per NBA TV:



"It’s crazy, I would go home, just stressed out, pulling my hair out, just praying, praying, send me some help," Cousins said about not having a superstar to play with earlier in his career, according to Rachel Nichols of ESPN.

He also noted that the two had each tried to recruit one another to join the other's team when the Kings and Pelicans played this season, according to Nichols.


"We’re going to try to make it work quickly," head coach Alvin Gentry said of working Cousins into the team, according to Nichols. "That may not be the case, but we don’t have a lot of margin of error right now."

While Cousins seemed genuinely excited to begin the next stage of his career with the Pelicans—"My concern is to help build a winning culture," he noted, per NBA TV—there was no doubt that Cousins also wasn't thrilled with how the trade was handled by the Kings.

"The way it was done, the dishonesty that came with it," Cousins said when asked what bothered him about the deal from the Kings' side, per Nichols. "But I’m OK with it."



The Kings—just days before dealing Cousins and Omri Casspi to the Pelicans for Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a 2017 top-three protected first-round pick and a 2017 second-rounder—publicly said they wouldn't trade their superstar center and weren't entertaining offers.

So much for that assertion. But Cousins tried to keep everything in perspective.

"I'm not sour. I'm not mad," he said, per Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. "This is a business."

And part of the business side will be whether the Pelicans can ultimately sign Cousins to a long-term extension. Cousins can become a free agent following the 2017-18 season, but when asked about whether he would ink an extension with the Pelicans, he declined to comment.

"That's not a question I can answer right away," Cousins said, per Ben Golliver of SI.com. "But I'm all in."

The Pelicans are certainly hoping that's the case. The thought of Cousins and Davis together, two of the best big men in the game, has to be frightening for every team in the NBA. Because both players are versatile on offense and can score both on the perimeter and in the paint, it isn't hard to imagine them working well together.



Defensively there will be bigger questions, but if Cousins decides he wants to dominate on that end, having a pair of athletic towers anchoring the team's defense will be scary for opposing offenses.

Cousins and Davis should be able to coexist on the court. There will be bigger questions, of course. Can Cousins be a good teammate and model citizen during his time in New Orleans? And will he ultimately want to re-sign with the team?

If the answer is yes to each question, this trade may go down as one of the most lopsided in history. And the Pelicans may be hanging a championship banner at some point, too.

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