With a snap of DeMarcus Cousins' left Achilles tendon, his future and the New Orleans Pelicans' fate took ominous turns.
Cousins was on his way to his first All-Star start next month and an offseason payday as mammoth as his presence in the paint. He was refining his image from six Sacramento seasons just in time to be in line for as much as a five-year, $170-million offer from New Orleans as an unrestricted free agent this summer.
But that personality baggage now totes an Achilles injury. It could either go as well, as it did for Rudy Gay's comeback to career-best efficiency this season in San Antonio, or as poorly as it did for a somewhat comparable big man, Elton Brand, after he left the Clippers in 2008.