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DeMarcus Cousins Has Some Bold Predictions About the Mavs' No. 1 Pick
DeMarcus Cousins joined Michelle Beadle, Chandler Parsons and Lou Williams on FanDuel TV's Run It Back on Tuesday. The three hosts asked the former NBA player for some hot takes, and boy did he deliver.
While the Run It Back crew tried to goad Cousins into saying the Mavericks might want to trade the No. 1 pick in the draft to Milwaukee for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the former All-Star had his own trade target ready for the Mavericks: Kevin Durant.
Boogie Cousins believes the Mavericks should trade the #1 pick for Kevin Durant 👀
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 20, 2025
"Nico's already on record saying it's a 3-year window for winning a championship. Cooper Flagg doesn't fit that window, KD does."@boogiecousins | @MichelleDBeadle | @TeamLou23 | @ChandlerParsons pic.twitter.com/i6bechkuEt
"Kevin Durant wouldn't be a bad move there either with that No. 1 pick." Asked to clarify by Beadle, Cousins said, "Nico's already on record saying it's a three-year window as far as winning a championship. Flagg doesn't fit that window. Kevin Durant does. So I absolutely think he'll trade that No. 1 pick. I think that's an option for him."
After hearing that Parsons, while laughing, asked Cousins if there was "a world where he keeps the pick and doesn't take [Flagg] No. 1?" This got a laugh out of Beadle as well, but Lou Williams pointed out that Ace Bailey is "getting hot."
Cousins went with it.
Boogie Cousins would pick Ace Bailey over Cooper Flagg with the #1 pick in the NBA Draft 🤯
— Run It Back (@RunItBackFDTV) May 20, 2025
"He's the closest thing we've seen to Tracy McGrady."@boogiecousins | @GeorgesNiang20 | @MichelleDBeadle | @TeamLou23 | @ChandlerParsons pic.twitter.com/G9yEyrDxpY
"To me Ace Bailey is the No. 1 pick," said Cousins. "I think he's the closest thing we've seen to a Tracy McGrady, but I don't see Nico... there's no way he keeps that pick. With everything he's already said on record as far as his window of winning a championship it just doesn't logically make sense."
In the words of Cousins himself later in the clip, "We've seen crazier things."
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Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.