Just like everyone else, the news that DeMarcus Cousins was joining the Warriors shocked Blazers guard CJ McCollum.
The five-year NBA guard explained Wednesday on his podcast "Pull Up with CJ McCollum" how he found out about the news and what his first reaction was.
"I was just as shocked as anybody else. I was flying back to Oregon from Miami. My girl shows me her phone right before I fall asleep and it says DeMarcus Cousins has signed with the Golden State Warriors and I'm like 'Stop playin' with me, stop playin' and she's like 'Nah, I'm serious' and I'm like 'Whatever' and I go to sleep. My phone was off because it's on Airplane Mode. I wake up and I sign in to Twitter and it's actually real and I'm seeing verified accounts, Woj, NBA accounts...and I was basically like 'Wow, this is happening.' So the first thing I thought was 'I gotta text Cuz, I gotta see what's going on,' so I tweeted it just he knew, 'Yo, I'm about to hit your line,' McCollum told co-host Jordan Schultz.
McCollum then went on to share details of his conversation with Cousins.
"I just kind of asked him 'What's going on, bruh? Come on, Cuz, like, what are you doing and why did you choose the Warriors out of all the teams?' And he basically told me some of his reasons why and we talked a little bit about the situation, obviously with him recovering from his Achilles and kind of the stigma that's been attached to him for quite some time. I was just more interested in the decision-making process of why it came down to that. I felt like he would have had more offers, more teams interest in him. His ability is obviously off the charts. And I told him, jokingly, you can get 20 and 10 with one Achilles, that's how talented you are, it's just about getting healthy, being in the right situation and being happy. But I don't blame him. Cuz is a good dude and he's gotta do what's best for his family. And if he didn't have a lot of good opportunities on the table for himself and his career, he has to do whatever it takes. I'm not sure the extent of the situation, but I heard a rumor that he actually called Bob Myers himself and spoke to him. But honestly, it makes the NBA a lot more interesting. We continue to hog the spotlight even in the offseason," McCollum said.
