Donovan Mitchell Would Like Cavs To Keep Jarrett Allen

DeMarcus Cousins knows he can still play in the NBA. However, Cousins is done trying to convince NBA teams of that.

“I’m not going to go out trying to convince these guys anymore,” Cousins said. “You know what I bring to the floor. It’s been proven. If you really wanted to know who I am, you’d take the time to get to know me instead of listening to somebody else. I’m past trying to reach out. If an opportunity comes that makes sense, I’ll consider it, but I’m done with the convincing.”

Cousins last played in the NBA in 2022 with the Denver Nuggets. The veteran center has played for teams in Puerto Rico, Taiwan and the Philippines since then.

The former All-Star center also touched on his college career at the University of Kentucky. Cousins said if NIL had been a thing when he was at Kentucky, he would have stayed for four years. As it was, he said he appreciated John Calipari being honest with him about what was best for Cousins and his family.

“Cal told me, ‘If you want to take care of my family, you can stay. If you want to take care of yours, you’re out of here.’ That’s real. And it took a coach like him to understand both sides,” Cousins said about Calipari. “We’ve all heard the horror stories of coaches holding guys back, and they miss their shot. Cal understood it was bigger than basketball-it was about life.”

The already drawn out process of a Damian Lillard trade with the Portland Trail Blazers appears to be a byproduct of how there is no impetus for any side to get a deal done.

The Miami Heat are considered the team “most motivated” to trade for Lillard and also his preferred destination, but they are trying to avoid overpaying on a deal if they can as the market is not as high for him considering his age and contract status.

“It could take months,” said Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday. “It could take weeks. I think the absence of a real deadline lurking on a Damian Lillard trade. There’s no trade deadline coming. There’s no NBA draft. There’s no July 1 free agency about to start. All those landmarks in the NBA calendar give teams motivation and give them parameters to get big deals done. The next real deadline for any of these teams is the start of training camp in late September.

“So I think for the Portland Trail Blazers, they don’t want to rush into what they consider to be a bad deal. The Miami Heat, the team that is most motivated to try to trade for Damian Lillard, where Damian Lillard wants to end up, they don’t want to be in a situation where they are bidding against themselves right now. They look out into the marketplace [and] know that the market does not love the idea of paying Damian Lillard a $60 million average at 35 and 36 years old, the last two years of that deal. If this was a contract with two years left, it would be different perhaps. So there’s no rush for either side to be real aggressive in their conversations with each other.”

“I think for Portland, they’re motivated to wait this out and continue to see how we get the most back for Damian Lillard. They don’t see it as moving quickly on a deal, unless Miami came with all of their assets. You know what they’re able to trade for Damian Lillard. They’re not motivated to do that now that they would be bidding against themselves.”

The Blazers signed Lillard to a two-year, $122 million extension in 2022 that Wojnarowski referenced as being a factor in depressing his trade value.