The free agency of DeMarcus Cousins is one of the NBA's most intriguing storylines of 2018 as the New Orleans Pelicans are expected to do whatever they can to re-sign him.

"I think most teams around the league believe that the Pelicans will re-sign Cousins unless he doesn't want to stay there," said Marc Stein on the Dunc'd On Podcast. "I think the Pelicans are the clear favorites. Now, I would say there's an expectation and maybe even speculation on the part of rival teams, but I've heard Dallas and the Lakers mentioned most frequently that those are teams that expected, whatever expected means, to make a run at him.

"Now for the Lakers, they have other targets. I would think Cousins is lower on their list than certainly LeBron or Paul George, but Dallas going after Cousins would be a very Mark Cuban move. I obviously live in Dallas. There's been talk about Cousins here for awhile, certainly around town people expect the Mavs to go after him. Can they convince him to leave New Orleans if the Pels put that max deal on the table?"

Cousins is likely to have a limited market of teams that can offer a max contract.