Former four-time NBA All-Star DeMarcus Cousins has agreed to a 10-day contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards, the team announced on Monday. Cousins will join the Beer Leopards, who play in Taiwan's T1 League, in January and play a minimum of four games with the team.
"We're confident that with [Cousins's] all-around skills, he'll bring a totally new chemistry to the Leopards," team CEO Johnny Chang said.
Cousins will play on Jan. 20, 21, 27 and 28, all of which are home games. Any further involvement with the team is to be determined. In a video posted to the team's Facebook page, Cousins greeted the fans.
"Ni hao," Cousins said. "Dear Leopards fans, excited to come over and put on a show for you all. Come catch me at a game soon. See you there."
The Beer Leopards have a history of signing former NBA stars. Most recently, Dwight Howard spent the 2022-23 season with the team, winning T1 League Most Valuable Import and T1 League All-Star Game MVP, among other honors. Howard took to social media to predict some fireworks from Cousins.
If I had 84 imagine boogie 😅💪🏾
— Dwight Howard (@DwightHoward) December 18, 2023
Howard's tweet is referencing a viral image that purported he had 84 points, 37 rebounds, nine assists and 14 blocks in a game with the Beer Leopards. That, of course, did not happen, but Howard was dominant in his time in Taiwan, and Cousins should have an even easier time with his more skilled offensive game.
Cousins, the No. 5 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, has not played in the league since 2022 with the Denver Nuggets. After coming into his own with the Sacramento Kings in the mid-2010s, he made four consecutive All-Star Games and two All-NBA Second Team appearances before injuries derailed his career.
In 2018, less than a year after he had been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, he ruptured his Achilles tendon. Subsequently, he suffered a torn quad with Golden State Warriors and a torn ACL before even playing a game for the Los Angeles Lakers. He missed the entire 2020-21 season and bounced around after that, appearing briefly with the Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks and Nuggets.
At this point, an NBA return seems unlikely. Cousins had a workout with the Lakers late last season, but they declined to sign him and he ended up playing with the the Guaynabo Mets in Puerto Rico in the spring.
Despite his prospects looking slim, Cousins is still confident is his own ability.
"Right now, I'm the third-best center in the league," Cousins said on the KG CERTIFIED podcast in March. "I mean, I'm a fan of the game. I'm always watching. I'm always enjoying these guys talents and things of that nature. But the game is just in a different place from my perspective."
