3 players that had a similar injury to new Rockets guard John Wall

1. DeMarcus Cousins

One of the biggest surprises of the off-season for the Houston Rockets was the signing of DeMarcus Cousins. Cousins shows up on our list because on January 26th, 2018, Cousins suffered the same injury that Wall is coming back from in a game versus his current team, the Rockets.

Before the injury, Cousins was considered one of the best centers in the league. Cousins had made four all-star games and made the All-NBA Second Team twice. Cousins was in his second year with the Pelicans and having one of his best seasons before the injury.

After his return on January 18, 2019, Cousins manage to show flashes of his previous dominance now with the Warriors. In probably his best game with the Warriors, Cousins put up 27 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists in a win over the, you guessed it, Houston Rockets.

Unfortunately, his return was short-lived, as Cousins was again injured, but made it back to play in the NBA Finals that year but didn’t have a major impact.

Cousins signed last year with the Los Angeles Lakers, but never played in one game for the Lakers as he tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in preseason workouts on August 15. The Lakers waived him later that year, and its a wait-and-see approach to determine whether he can regain any of his previously dominant form for the Rockets.

There are a lot of question marks surrounding the John Wall trade. With no NBA action for almost two years, no one really knows what Wall will bring to the Houston Rockets this season. There are, fortunately, examples of players with all-world athleticism similar to Wall that had the same injury and came back and played at an all-star level.

Of course, there are also examples of a player’s productivity falling off and never recovering. Only time will tell which side Wall will fall on after his comeback.