Los Angeles Clippers: DeMarcus Cousins should not be plan B to Kawhi Leonard

The Los Angeles Clippers are still anxiously waiting on Kawhi Leonard’s free agency decision while also likely exploring possible plan B options.

The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the three teams that are still in the running for Kawhi Leonard, who still has not made his free agency decision nearly a week into the process.

While the goal is to stay in the race and eventually sign Leonard, the Clippers (and the other team that does not get Leonard) will be left hanging with all of the solid role players already signing with other teams. That is the one fault of waiting this long for one guy.

But if the Clippers do sign Leonard it will all be worth it and heck, by the time you are reading this maybe he already signed with a team. All we know that is the team should be prepared either way for life without Leonard, which includes finding a plan B.

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The most likely route is that the Clippers roll into 2019 with the team they have, adding other role players to the mix, and make a trade at the trade deadline for a star if it is on the table. Right now, that might be their only chance at getting a star instead of Leonard, as next year’s free agency class is extremely weak.

Or, the team can take a massive gamble and sign DeMarcus Cousins. The Los Angeles Clippers need depth at the center position anyway and Cousins is someone that is worth significantly less than he would be if he was healthy.

If Cousins never suffered his Achilles injury then he likely would have gotten a max contract. Now, he stands in free agency with virtually no market.

Cousins would be worth a one-year gamble if the team brought in Leonard, only if they used the mid-level exception on Cousins. We argued the same point for the Los Angeles Lakers as Cousins is not worth more than that exception.

The front office must avoided using Cousins as a multi-year plan B in the case that Leonard signs elsewhere. Yes, he is naturally gifted and still showed signs of that talent in Golden State last season.

However, he is an injury-prone big man who has never been known for being a great teammate. The logic for signing him might be just to get a star on the roster to lure other stars in, but it will do the reverse.

Cousins is great for the kind of mid-playoff team that can win a playoff series and that is it. He has not proven to be as impactful when he is not the best player on the team and that was evident in New Orleans and Golden State.

The goal should not be to have DeMarcus Cousins be the best player on the team and if they did sign him to a multi-year contract, which would have to take a decent penny for Cousins to commit long-term, then it would quickly turn into a mistake for the team.

If Cousins really has no market and the Clippers can snag him for three years and $25-30 million that is one thing. That is an exceptional bargain. However, chances are that Cousins would be asking for at least $45 million in a three-year contract, which simply is not worth it for the franchise.

There is a serious chance that Cousins would do more harm than good to the franchise under that sort of contract. So despite his star power, he should never be considered as a legitimate plan B option for the Los Angeles Clippers.