Lakers’ Cousins could miss NBA season with injury: report

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Injury-nagged Los Angeles Lakers center DeMarcus Cousins could miss the entire 2019-20 NBA season with a torn left knee ligament, his agent told ESPN on Thursday.

In a major setback for a team that added star big man Anthony Davis to four-time NBA Most Valuable Player LeBron James, Cousins suffered the injury working out in Las Vegas on Monday when he “bumped knees” with another player, according to the report.

Agent Jeff Schwartz told ESPN that a visit to team doctors in Los Angeles on Thursday confirmed his third serious leg injury in 18 months, with no timetable set for surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Cousins was signed as a free agent in July, on a one-year deal for $3.5 million, after playing with Golden State last season.

He spent most of the past campaign recovering from a left Achilles tendon tear in January 2018 but played 30 games for Golden State before suffering a torn quadriceps in the second game of the playoffs that sidelined him until the opening game of the NBA Finals, which the Warriors lost to Toronto.

Cousins, 29, has played nine NBA seasons, averaging 21.2 points and 10.9 rebounds a game.

Losing Cousins would force some key changes into the Lakers’ frontline, potentially including moving Davis from power forward to center to replace Cousins.

It also figures to give backup center JaVale McGee more time in the middle, potentially a major role if the Lakers elect to keep Davis at forward with playmaker James another versatile threat.