DeMarcus Cousins Discusses Decision to Leave in Press Conference

DeMarcus Cousins answered questions from the media today in a press conference that lasted about 15 minutes. He addressed his decision to leave Kentucky after one season, among other topics. Here are a few highlights:

-DeMarcus clearly loved his time at Kentucky, saying “I could stay here forever. I have so much love for this university.” Leaving was the right decision for him, but that didn’t make it easy. He was really happy and accepted for the first time in his life. DeMarcus said that he would be back a lot.

-John Calipari actively pushed Cousins to make the decision to leave. Cousins’ stock is very, very high right now and he stands to make a lot of money. His goal has always been to make it to the league, and returning is an unnecessary risk.

-He said that his main focus right now is “getting his body right”. He recognizes that he needs to improve his conditioning to achieve his potential. As he referenced in his presser, Dwight Howard is a little tougher matchup than Alex Tyus or AJ Ogilvy.

-The agent selection process was handled by his mother and DeMarcus really didn’t elaborate much on how John Grieg was chosen.

-DeMarcus said the first thing he would buy would be whatever his mother wanted and that a car wasn’t on his wishlist because he doesn’t have a license…only Big Cuz.

-The West Virginia loss clearly still eats at Boogie. He said that he wishes he could turn back time and play the game again because losing meant the team fell short of its goal to win the national title.

UK is going to reload this offseason, but we’ll never get to watch another player quite like DeMarcus Cousins. On the floor, his size, strength, and skill made him impossible to deal with. Off the floor, Cousins endeared himself to UK fans while rival fans absolutely loathed him, a role he relished at times.

Good luck at the next level DeMarcus, we’ll all be watching and cheering for you.