Irritation Over Warriors Signing Cousins Understandable, But What Could Be Done

by Julian Spivey
If you heard a collective groan on Monday afternoon from NBA fans all around the world it’s because free agent center DeMarcus Cousins, arguably the second-best center in the NBA behind his former New Orleans Pelicans teammate Anthony Davis, signed a one-year, $5.3 million deal with the two-time reigning champion Golden State Warriors.
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The deal in which Cousins took considerably less money than what he could’ve gotten to win a championship with the Warriors makes the best team in the NBA even better and gives the team an All Star player at every starting position and has led to discussions of whether it’ll be the greatest starting five in NBA history.

I understand why NBA fans everywhere are pissed. The best thing for any sport is parity and the NBA doesn’t have that right now. The NBA doesn’t even seem to have a team in the same stratosphere as the Warriors after this deal with the team being the overwhelming favorite to win a third consecutive NBA title and its fourth in five years. It’s not good for a sport to essentially have its next championship locked up less than a month after its last one ended. Of course, the games still must be played, and anything can happen, but that’s the way it seems right now.

It’s doubly irritating for fans of the league who were hoping this offseason’s free agent crop including LeBron James could jump start some action into the league with him going to a location like the Houston Rockets, who damn near beat the Warriors without LeBron, or the Philadelphia 76ers. Instead LeBron chose the Los Angeles Lakers, which sparked renewed interest in the game’s most popular franchise, but there wasn’t too much else the team could do financially to build a team that could compete with the Warriors. LeBron to the Lakers seems like a move that might take two years to pan out.

I can certainly understand fans of the game being upset about the lack of competition in the game, but what do you really expect the NBA to do about it? The Warriors have built their championship team the right way, no matter what some might think. The original three stars on the team: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green all came out of the NBA Draft and none of them were even top five picks. Green, in fact, wasn’t even a first round pick. The additions of Kevin Durant two offseasons ago and Cousins today are just the team playing by free agency and salary cap rules, but the way some fans are reacting to the creation of this “superteam” you would think the team was doing something illegal. Some people even want the NBA to step in, but the NBA simply can’t dictate where players go via free agency. If players like Cousins are selflessly willing to play for less in pursuit of a championship there isn’t much that can be done. So, if you don’t want to watch I completely understand, but the whining is pointless. If other teams want to stop the Warriors they’re simply going to have to get better on the court and better in the front office. Something that should truly concern NBA fans is the lack of trying for a player of Cousins’ stature via free agency. Free agency began at midnight on July 1 and up until the moment he signed his deal with the Warriors he hadn’t been contacted by a single other team in the league, according to ESPN’s Marc Spears. If your phone isn’t ringing and suddenly, the reigning champs come calling you might jump at that chance too.  

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