The Los Angeles Lakers swapped the cast of DeMarcus Cousins for Markieff Morris in February. In Cousins’ first game against his former team on Sunday, he and Morris had a difficult exchange.
No player ended 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 for entering a push fight after Morris’ blatant foul on Jae’Sean Tate, who sent the striker of Rockets sprawled on the floor.
Morris was expelled for the offense after retaliating against Cousins’ body check that sent him crashing to the ground, charging Cousins to push him while he helped Tate to his feet.
Not long after that, Cousins was also sent off early in the second quarter, when he was called in for a blatant foul 2 for hitting LeBron James in the head. The kick appeared to be accidental, as Cousins tried to take the ball from James while the Lakers star went to the basket. However, the referees decided that Cousins’ submission and follow-up deserved a blatant call 2 and automatic ejection. Cousins has been ejected twice in the last four Rockets games. He was called for two technical fouls in a two-minute, 53-second interval to be sent off in Monday’s loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
The Lakers hired Cousins in the summer of 2019 to try to recreate the success on the pitch he had when he joined Anthony Davis at the New Orleans Pelicans, however, the former All-Star player never played for LA after tear the ACL on the left knee during a pickup game.
Cousins was released in February to open a vacancy to sign Morris, who reached a purchase agreement with the Detroit Pistons and was on the market.
Morris was instrumental in the race for the Lakers’ championship, ironically throwing 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 16 points again in Game 5 to close the Rockets.
Even though Cousins was not in the Lakers playoff squad, his name was still etched in every ring in the Lakers’ championship. The Lakers plan to present Cousins with a championship ring when they host the Rockets at the Staples Center later this season, league sources told ESPN.
ESPN’s Tim MacMahon contributed to this report.