The Los Angeles Lakers exchanged the roster of DeMarcus Cousins for Markieff Morris in February. In the first game of Cousins against his former team on Sunday, he and Morris got themselves a tough trade.
Neither player finished the game.
Morris and Cousins were called up for double technical fouls with 2:15 remaining in the first quarter of the Houston Rockets game against LA as they got into a pushing match after Morris’ blatant foul 1 on Jae’Sean Tate, which took the Rockets to forward. stretched out on the ground.
Morris was sent off for the offense after taking revenge on Cousins’ body control that caused him to fall to the ground by attacking Cousins to push him while helping Tate.
Not long after, Cousins was also sent off early in the second quarter when he was called up for a glaring foul 2 for hitting LeBron James in the head. The shot appeared to be incidental as Cousins attempted to get James off the ball as the Lakers star drove into the basket. However, the referees ruled that Cousins’ liquidation and succession deserved a blatant 2 call-up and automatic ejection. Cousins has been ejected twice in the Rockets’ last four games. He was called up for two technical fouls in the space of two minutes and 53 seconds to be ejected in Monday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Lakers signed Cousins in the summer of 2019 to try to restore the frontcourt success he had with Anthony Davis at the New Orleans Pelicans, but the former All-Star center never played a game for LA after it had torn the ACL in his left knee. during a fetch game.
Cousins was disbanded in February to free up a roster spot to sign Morris, who reached a buyout agreement with the Detroit Pistons and was on the market.
Morris was instrumental in the Lakers’ championship run, ironically playing his most effective ball in the second round against Houston when he scored 16 points in Game 2 to tie the series 1-1 and again 16 points in Game 5 to to close the Rockets.
Although Cousins was not on the Lakers’ playoff roster, his name was still etched into every Lakers championship ring. The Lakers plan to provide Cousins with a championship ring when they host the Rockets at Staples Center later this season, league sources told ESPN.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.