I feel for Cousins. He can't catch a break. It couldn't happen to a better team though. Screw the Lakers.
I wonder if Cousins regrets not taking that smaller deal with the Pelicans last offseason. I think it was said to be 2 or 3 years at $30 million total. It wasn't a lot, it had a player option so it was sort of a "prove it" deal but who knows how things would have played out if he did stick around to try and get healthy there. AD might not ask out when he did. Cousins might not get hurt again because he doesn't play deep in the playoffs like he did last year with the Warriors.
It sucks that we're seeing a "What If" situation play out right now with him. He was a 4 time All-Star in his first 7 years and 2 time All-NBA 2nd Team. I know some considered him the best Center in the game before he got dealt to New Orleans. He was definitely top 3 and top 15-20 talent in the league.
The Lakers are now free from the pressure of playing him, they're probably better off. He was a statue last year and looked terrible in the playoffs outside of one game.
I think the idea of Cousins being a legit superstar went out the window when the Pelicans got better and made that playoff push only after Cousins got hurt.
I do feel bad for the guy though. A couple seasons ago he was probably expecting to easily make another 150+ million dollars in his NBA career, now that figure might cap out around 10 million. A lot of athletes in his situation, despite having made a fortune, have saved nothing, expecting even larger contracts down the road. I hope Cousins isn't from that mold... which I think he isn't, I heard he did a lot of charitable work in Sacramento.