Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins could sit out the rest of the season as he continues to struggle with nagging injuries.
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Cousins missed the loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night with what the team described as on-going injury issues, and with the Kings having little to play for down the stretch of the regular season, they may well opt to rest him.
Sacramento are 26-47 for the season and have no chance of making the playoffs, and it is certainly a disappointing end to the year after it had started so brightly with Cousins leading their charge.
However, two coaching changes later and they remain in Western Conference mediocrity and the decision could now be taken to keep Cousins off the court to avoid any injury setbacks as he is merely putting up big numbers in a losing cause.
“We talked when he commented after one game that his body was beat up. I said, ‘Instead of thinking about shutting it down, let’s try to find some days that you can get your body rested.’ We might schedule a piece of our games and (rest Cousins) again,” coach George Karl said, ESPN reports.
“I think Cousins likes to play and I think he’s doing it because he wants to play at a higher efficiency. It gives me an opportunity to experiment a little bit. At home, I’d like to go in and (let Cousins play) every game. But on the road, I might experiment a little bit more.”
The smart thing to do would be to avoid putting unnecessary stress on Cousins’ body, as the commanding center put up 39 points and grabbed 20 rebounds in his last game, but he couldn’t prevent them from slipping to a disappointing 14-point loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.
As a result, Karl should question what he would gain from playing Cousins more minutes than necessary, and while he can continue to experiment with the other players on the roster, he should allow the 24-year-old franchise cornerstone time to heal and learn from the sidelines.
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