Rockets, DeMarcus Cousins agree to one-year deal

The Rockets might not be ready to resurrect that “legacy of bigs” banner outside Toyota Center. They won’t fill their nights with post-ups and Dream Shakes or their plans with visions of Twin Towers 2.0.

Small ball, however, appears to be becoming — if not as extinct as the dinosaurs traditional NBA centers were thought to be — an option rather than a full-time philosophy.

The Rockets on Monday reached agreement on a one-year deal with former All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins, two individuals with knowledge of the deal said, making the move just days after they opened free agency by landing their top target, center Christian Wood.

Coming off three major injuries that limited him to 30 games since late January 2018, Cousins will have a role to be determined. But the Rockets have reached agreement on free-agent deals with just two players with NBA experience, and both are centers, each five inches taller than 6-5 P.J. Tucker, who manned the middle for the team from last season’s midpoint onward.

Adding Cousins could be a low-risk, high-reward endeavor. He comes with a nonguaranteed contract and a career as one of the league’s most gifted and versatile big men.

Their choice of centers to pursue could indicate the Rockets are not departing too significantly from their customary style, particularly the premium on spacing to allow Russell Westbrook and James Harden to drive.

Cousins, like Wood, has 3-point range, having made at least 35 percent of his 3s in four consecutive seasons prior to his abbreviated comeback campaign with the Warriors. Wood in particular has shown the potential to be an outstanding pick-and-roll partner for Harden. Both centers have such varied skills, with Wood especially effective defensively on the perimeter, they could play together in some matchups.

The addition of Cousins could, however, be the strongest indication yet of the Rockets’ intention to play a more conventional lineup and style under new general manager Rafael Stone and new coach Stephen Silas.

The delay of the 2020-21 season, with training camp to open next week and games beginning Dec. 22, was expected to allow Cousins time to be ready after he sat out the restart in the NBA bubble rather than sign as a free agent. He missed all of last season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in an August 2019 pickup game while with the Lakers. He played 30 games in the 2018-19 season with the Warriors after coming back from an Achilles injury suffered against the Rockets while he was with the Pelicans. But he was hurt again in the second game of the 2019 playoffs, going out with a quad injury.

When healthy, the 6-10, 270-pound Cousins has brought a sensational mix of agility for his size and sublime offensive skills as a scorer or passer. The fifth overall pick of the 2010 draft, the 30-year-old Kentucky product is one of seven players in NBA history to average 25 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in a season — which he did in a 2017-18, when he was limited to 48 games with New Orleans — and one of just two (along with Giannis Antetokounmpo the past two seasons) to do it since Charles Barkley’s 1992-93 MVP season.

A six-time All-Star, Cousins has averaged 21.2 points and 10.9 rebounds in nine NBA seasons with the Kings, Pelicans and Warriors. Though unlikely to reclaim the sort of role he had as the centerpiece of the Kings, he worked well with Anthony Davis while with the Pelicans and enthusiastically assumed a smaller role with the then-reigning champion Warriors.

Even while working off the rust after missing all of last season, Cousins, along with Wood, should help shore up the Rockets’ most glaring weakness, defensive rebounding.

Cousins ranks eighth in NBA history in defensive rebounding percentage and had been in the top 10 every year since his rookie season until his comeback season with the Warriors. The Rockets last season ranked 26th in defensive rebounding percentage.

Long known for his volatility, Cousins has picked up 124 technical fouls in his nine seasons, just nine fewer than Westbrook in 12 seasons, placing both in the all-time top 20.

The Rockets, however, imagine Cousins fitting in other ways and took their latest large step in a different direction.