Lakers elaborate DeMarcus Cousins, Meyers Leonard – Orange County Register

LOS ANGELES — The Lakers have been peeking at the fringes of the league all season to see if there are any new bodies to bring in.

Before the start of the season, they retained Matt Ryan, who had excelled in shooting in training camp. Earlier this month they signed Sterling Brown to a 10-day deal. They worked out Cody Zeller and Tyler Dorsey this month to add possible depth.

But according to media reports, players considering the Lakers next will raise a few more eyebrows.

DeMarcus Cousins, 32, and Meyers Leonard, 30, are expected to train for the team on Friday, according to Bleacher Report and The Athletic. Cousins ​​was previously a Laker and was injured during a summer practice session prior to the 2019-20 season. Leonard has been eliminated from the league since the 2020-21 season, when he traded from the Miami Heat and resigned shortly after an incident when he used an anti-Semitic slur on a Twitch stream in March 2021.

Leonard, in particular, has drawn a lot of attention: He hasn’t had a reported workout for any NBA team since the Twitch incident, for which he apologized and made some reported efforts to get the Jewish community involved. He’s also had shoulder and ankle surgeries and the complications of the latter have kept him physically off the pitch.

The Lakers declined to confirm the two players’ upcoming practice. But manager Darvin Ham said the team owed it to themselves to look for ways to improve the squad if such moves can be found.

“At the end of the day, we’re constantly looking for and aware of what’s out there,” he said. “There is nothing else. That doesn’t mean that people will be included in our list.”

Cousins ​​last played for the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets last season, averaging 9 points and 5.6 rebounds on 46% shooting. In Leonard’s last full NBA season, he averaged 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while shooting 41.4% from 3-point range. Leonard faced the Lakers in the NBA Finals with the Heat but only played in two of the six games.

The Lakers performed less than hoped for from Damian Jones, who came into Thursday’s game averaging 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds and completely outside of regular rotation. With All-Star Anthony Davis out with a right foot injury, the Lakers will have to settle for Thomas Bryant and Wenyen Gabriel as the team’s centers and LeBron James and Juan Toscano-Anderson as power forwards.

However, Ham said he would prefer to talk less about potential additions to the squad and more about the players he already has.

“At the end of the day, I don’t want to go back and forth about things that are traditional NBA steps that they take to improve the roster,” he said. “Because me, my staff and I are again trying to stay afloat with the guys that we have in the locker room.”