NEW ORLEANS -- As their float rumbled down the parade route and music from the on-board DJ drowned out the brassy high school bands on foot, DeMarcus Cousins stood in front of a giant light blue rotary phone with a pair of women's underwear on his head, a stuffed alligator in his hand and a strand of purple and gold plastic bulbs draped over his left shoulder as if he were a Mardi Gras Rambo.
A little more than a week after an unexpected trade between the Sacramento Kings and the New Orleans Pelicans was finalized during the All-Star Game here, Cousins already seemed right at home next to Anthony Davis as the new superstar teammates and honorary grand marshals for the Krewe of Zulu tossed beads and other trinkets to the throng of paradegoers lining the streets below.