After having been successful in their quest to acquire swingman Jimmy Butler, the Miami Heat are apparently not stopping in their effort to become a major force again in the NBA.
One new report indicates that the Heat are planning on meeting with free agent center DeMarcus Cousins.
Cousins played this past season with the Golden State Warriors on a one-year contract that paid him $5.3 million. That bargain salary was because he didn’t take the court for the Warriors until mid-January after suffering an Achilles injury nearly one year earlier.
In his 30 regular season games with the Warriors, Cousins averaged 16.3 points, 8.2 points, 3.6 assists, 1.5 blocked shots and 1.2 steals per game. During his first postseason ever, he started five of eight games and averaged 7.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.
With the Heat also dealing away Hassan Whiteside, the team could get a player in the paint who’s averaged a double-double over the course of his nine NBA seasons. However, with competition from the Boston Celtics, whether or the Heat will be able to afford his asking price becomes a major question.
In addition, Cousins turns 29 next month and hasn’t yet returned to his pre-injury form. If he again goes down or struggles to stay healthy, his contract could become a financial burden that could restrict the Heat in adapting to such a change.
Regardless of the end result of this new pursuit, it’s clear that the Heat have every intention of collecting the talent to get back to the postseason and forge a deep run.