NBA Notebook: DeMarcus Cousins injury could change everything for Pelicans, Anthony Davis

A successful season to date in New Orleans was derailed on Friday night as DeMarcus Cousins suffered a ruptured Achilles in the closing minutes of a Pelicans’ win over the Rockets. The injury for the All-Star is a major blow to both the player and the franchise. Cousins will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason as he undergoes a 6-to-10 month recovery process, and the Pelicans lose their strong second scoring punch besides Anthony Davis.

While the Pelicans may still be able to rally around the injury and sneak into the playoffs (currently at 27-21) if the supporting cast steps up, there are going to be some tough decisions on the horizon for this franchise at the trade deadline and in the summer months.

The Pelicans clearly could use some help at the trade deadline to stay competitive within a crowded Western Conference playoff race, but their current payroll makes that easier said than done. They are flirting with the luxury tax line already with a payroll approaching $122 million, and assets up and down the roster are all non-existent, outside of their own first-round pick. Jrue Holiday and Anthony Davis aren’t going anywhere. Supporting pieces such as Solomon Hill and E’Twaun Moore are paid too much to be useful trade assets in any deal. Omer Asik’s contract is an albatross. There are some cheap pieces and young pieces (Frank Jackson, Cheick Diallo), but those guys have not shown the development to bring in a meaningful return.

Those realities and a mandate from ownership to stay out of the luxury tax leaves general manager Dell Demps in a no-win situation. His team went all-in on making the postseason last offseason after targeting veteran pieces (Rajon Rondo, Tony Allen) with their excess cap money, and it looks like he’s doing so in a lost season for New Orleans.

The bigger question that Celtics fans are likely interested in though is what happens this offseason with Cousins and how does that pertain to the potential status of Davis. A max contract offer from the Pelicans this offseason seemed like a sure thing up to now for New Orleans, particularly given the assets they gave up for Cousins and their lack of meaningful cap space this offseason for alternatives.

However, a serious injury on the foot of a 300-pound center is nothing to downplay. It’s unclear if Cousins will be the all-around force he became this season, averaging 25 points, 12.9 rebounds and nearly five assists per game. The Pelicans can obviously try to offer him a deal with injury protections/guarantees worked in for them, but there’s no guarantee that Cousins will be open to that kind of offer. Another team could swoop in with max salary space and offer the All-Star starter the max money with no strings attached. Will the Pelicans gamble on the big man to appease Davis, despite the huge risks involved? It would give the franchise no flexibility for the future if they retained him and he turned into a bad contract.

All of this also leaves an intriguing subplot over the team’s future with Davis as well. He’s obviously not going anywhere this season and likely won’t this summer. However, given the team’s lack of meaningful options to improve with or without Cousins (no cap space, bad contracts, older veterans on roster), Davis could become disenchanted with the situation sooner if he doesn’t like how the team handles Boogie. I still think the only way that Davis ultimately gets moved from New Orleans is if he sends signals he wants out, but there’s sadly a lot less to be optimistic about in the future down South than earlier this week. The league will be watching closely how things are handled in Louisiana, and you can bet that the Celtics will be ready to pounce with offers this offseason and throughout next year if the opportunity arises.

For now though, it’s an unfortunate situation to watch one of the most unique tandems in the league be sidelined during what could have been an entertaining first-round series against one of the West juggernauts.

Isaiah Thomas taking unfair heat in Cleveland

The numbers for Isaiah Thomas haven’t been pretty since his return from a hip injury nearly ten games ago. Despite a strong debut against the Blazers, the point guard has floundered since then in many games, looking like a guy that missed seven months of action to recover from a serious basketball injury.

A subpar start should come as no surprise to any close follower of the NBA. It takes plenty of time for guys to find their rhythm on the court in these instances and it’s not clear yet if Thomas will be able to come close to his peak this year on the floor. Yet, somehow, the rest of the Cavs organization are treating Thomas like he’s been the primary problem in their year-long struggles since returning to the lineup. There’s been grumbles about shot selection, Thomas calling out teammates in meetings and whether the team should actually move the point guard to the bench or altogether.

While Thomas has not been good by any means, this type of criticism masks what have been year-long issues with this roster. This group simply can’t play defense and the fact that they struggle in that area and don’t seemingly play hard in stretches has been evident all year long. Obviously, Thomas doesn’t help with that equation, but he’s not the reason they rank 29th in the league in defense and can’t get stops against the league’s best.

It’s been a rough year for the former All-Star point guard, but he’s taken far too much of the blame for a bad situation right now in Cleveland. He needs to be given some margin for error in Cleveland and instead, he’s been treated like a scapegoat.