DeMarcus Cousins on Criticism for Signing with Warriors: “I Don’t Really Care”

DeMarcus Cousins with Pelicans (left) in 2017. Photo by Stephen Lew/CSM/REX/Shutterstock

Four-time All-Star DeMarcus Cousins shocked the league when he decided to join the reigning NBA champions Golden State Warriors on a mid-level exception. The move also caused a lot of criticism pointed towards Cousins for making a super team even more powerful. But it looks like the 27-year-old doesn’t lose sleep over this.

I didn’t really care, honestly,” – said Cousins about the backlash during his interview with ESPN. “I don’t really care. … It trips me out to just see. It’s crazy like how angry people were.”

Just a year ago everyone, including DeMarcus Cousins himself, expected him to sign a max-contract this summer. But an ACL injury he suffered in January sidelined him for 10 to 12 months caused the majority of the teams to back out of offering him a deal. Seeing that there are no good offers coming his way, Cousins decided to enter the talks with the Warriors.

But, it’s just kind of funny because before the whole thing started, I was just kind of wasted.” – Cousins explained. “I was damaged goods, not a winner, just everything negative. And soon as it happens, it’s like, ‘He’s too damn good to [be a Warrior].’ So, it’s just kind of funny how the narrative switches right away when things don’t go the way they expect it to.”

Cousins also discussed a variety of other topics in the interview, including his expectations from the upcoming season. According to him, he just wants to get back to playing basketball and have a winning season.

I’m here to play basketball. I’m here to play at the highest level. I’m here to win games. Everything else will take care of itself. That’s not my concern.” – he added.

I am a reality TV junkie. My dream since I was a kid was to be on Big Brother, but until then you can catch me binge-watching episodes each summer.