Lakers News: DeMarcus Cousins denies rumors of unfollowing Pelicans, following Julius Randle and Paul George on Instagram

With the NBA free agency moratorium period less than two months away, it’s easy to get caught up in rumors, so much so that it can be hard to decipher what’s real and it wasn’t. That was with the case with a DeMarcus Cousins story that has been floating around this past week.

The story goes, Cousins unfollowed the Pelicans on Instagram and immediately followed Paul George, Isaiah Thomas and Julius Randle after. Both Randle and Thomas played for the Lakers last season and George is considered a near lock to sign with his hometown team this summer. You get the picture.

But in an interview with Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated, Cousins said that’s not how it went at all.

“Well, I was already following Julius and Paul [George]. Isaiah [Thomas] was my teammate; I’ve been following Isaiah for years.

The reason I unfollowed them was, one, I was scrolling down my timeline and I saw a Pelicans fan page so I followed the fan page and the picture that popped up read, ‘Should the Pelicans re-sign or let Demarcus Cousins go?’ So I was like I’m just going to unfollow this s— so I won’t have to see it. In my mind, that’s all I’m thinking. So I unfollowed it and I started noticing people asking, ‘Why did you unfollow the Pelicans?’ I was like, ‘How do people know I unfollowed the Pelicans?’ I ain’t even know that was possible. I didn’t even know you could know if somebody unfollowed somebody. So you know my response, well, it was like a little kid: Well, ’cause I’m grown. I do what I want, I’m grown.”

When healthy, Cousins is arguably the most dominant center in the NBA. However, after rupturing his Achilles tendon early in the season, it’s unclear whether or not Cousins will ever return to form.

That uncertainty reportedly has the Pelicans re-thinking their stance on Cousins, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. According to Zach Lowe of ESPN, the Pelicans are open to bringing back Cousins, but on a short-term deal worth less than the max.

If Cousins and New Orleans can’t come to an agreement, it’s going to be interesting to see which team will gamble on bringing on the four-time All-Star. At this time the Lakers’ interest in Cousins is said to be “unclear.”