DeMarcus Cousins has revealed that he is overjoyed by the feeling of winning a gold medal for Team USA, and is currently all in for 2020, though that may change.
The Sacramento Kings center had an up-and-down Olympic experience, as he had to combat some tough officiating that he wasn’t used to, but he still prevailed and had an outstanding performance in the gold medal game, putting up 13 points and 15 rebounds.
Following that game, Cousins cracked a huge smile when looking at the gold medal around his neck, and that feeling has given him a sense of euphoria.
"It’s all worth it at the end of the day," Cousins said, according to the Boston Globe. "All the B.S., everything we went through. Everybody went through their own little type of adversity. This is the best feeling ever, honestly. This is the best feeling ever."
Cousins and Team USA certainly had to battle some adversity, and went through some tough games where the outcome was in doubt until the end. But according to Cousins, those wake-up calls helped them.
"It let us know that we had to take it to another level," Cousins said. "If anything, that was the best thing for us."
Cousins’ excitement and joy over his gold medal has led him to be open to competing in 2020 as well.
"I’m open to [coming back to play in 2020]. I’ll be older then, so it depends on how my body feels. As of right now, where I’m at, absolutely, I’m open to it," Boogie said.
Cousins also talked about how he thinks people underestimate the learning curve of international basketball. When we see the roster Team USA puts out, we expect gold, but Cousins says that’s not how it is.
"I think people don’t understand [how hard winning gold is]. They see the guys on the roster and they think automatically, they’re supposed to win. This [international game] isn’t our game. This isn’t the way we play. This is an adjustment for every guy on the roster."
It was apparent that Cousins had to adjust to international ball, as he racked up quite a few fouls, and even fell victim to fouling out.
Now for Cousins, it’s back to Sacramento to play with the Kings. While he has bumped heads with the organization for awhile, he did enjoy competing against the franchise’s general manager, Vlade Divac, who is the President of the Olympic Committee of Serbia. Cousins said that he told Divac "‘I told you so’" after winning gold, and said that Divac talked a lot of trash the first time the two teams met, when Team USA won by just three points, but wasn’t talking much during the gold medal game.
Seeing Boogie back in uniform for Team USA in 2020 would be outstanding. At the age of 30, and with another four years of NBA experience under his belt, Cousins would be a great veteran leader on the team, and of course he’d still be a physical big man that international teams can’t handle