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DeMarcus Cousins on his breakout 2015-16 season: 'It was Rajon Rondo, he put that battery in my back'

DeMarcus Cousins on his breakout 2015-16 season: Shout out to Rajon Rondo. Honestly like it was Rondo bro, he put that battery in my back, he put things into perspective for me, he helped me understand the game more, he slowed the game down for me. I started paying more attention to details, just everything kind of slowed down and that was just that Rondo effect for me. That’s still my guy to this day, he still coached me and I love that about him.

DeMarcus Cousins on how Reggie Evans humbled him during his rookie season: He manhandled me in my rookie season bro. You know I’mma talk my sh*t, I’m gonna pop my sh*t but he backed it up and he was talking and sh*t. So that’s my OG, he’s from across the street, that’s my dog for sure. I took a lot from his from his game. He was my vet when we were in Sacramento so I took a lot of his tricks when it came to offensive boards and just using your strength and using the opponent’s momentum against them so he actually taught me a lot when it came to the game.
An agreement exists between the NBA and FIBA that governs the movement of players back and forth, and so Sacramento had to wait until he was a free agent overseas and had an interest in coming to the NBA. To lure him over, they guaranteed him $13 million, with a team option for 2025-26. A guaranteed contract works both ways. Vezenkov did not have a player option for 2024-25, and so when reports surfaced that he wanted to return overseas, he couldn’t just leave; the NBA-FIBA agreement wouldn’t allow him to break a contract with his NBA team.