Former NBA forward Reggie Evans, a 13-year league veteran known for his rebounding prowess and colorful quotes, once offered a surprising take on two modern NBA centers: Brook Lopez and DeMarcus Cousins. In an interview with me on Scoop B Radio, Evans declared that, in a practice setting, the often-understated Lopez was a “tougher” opponent than the fiery Cousins.
The All-Star Guarantee
Evans, who played with Lopez on the inaugural Brooklyn Nets team in the 2012-13 season, recalled pushing the big man to achieve greatness.
“To be honest with you when I got to Brooklyn; you can even ask Brook this, but I told him: ‘you are going to make the All Star [team]this year,’” Evans told me.
He didn’t just offer encouragement; he offered a challenge, positioning himself as the ultimate training partner. “I told him: ‘your toughest opponent is going to be me in practice,’” said Evans. That season, Lopez was indeed named an NBA All-Star. Evans credited Lopez’s inherent strength, saying, “Brook is solid. Brook to me he isn’t soft.”
Practice vs. Popcorn: The Cousins Comparison
Evans later had the chance to play alongside DeMarcus Cousins during his time with the Sacramento Kings. While Cousins is widely regarded as one of the most dominant and physically imposing big men of his generation, Evans found him easier to handle during drills than Lopez.
“Brook was tougher,” Evans flatly stated when I asked him to compare the two centers in practice. “You know what is so crazy? Brook was tougher, but you’re talking about practice.”
Evans was quick to clarify that this difference vanished when the games actually started. While Cousins might be containable when the “lights came on” for a practice, the intensity flipped dramatically during a live game:
“DeMarcus, when those lights came on, that popcorn came on,” Evans explained, emphasizing the change in intensity. “You know you would have gotten this 30 something and 15 rebounds guaranteed with DeMarcus. You can stop Demarcus in practices and stuff, but in game time [situations] you aren’t stopping him.”
The difference, Evans concluded, was in the consistency of effort in a controlled environment: “I have to pick Brook as the tougher guard in practice than in game time. You aren’t going to stop Demarcus period.”
More Than Just Ball: The Evans Quotables
Evans also took a moment to reflect on one of his most famous off-the-court lines. Early in his career, while a member of the Seattle Sonics, Evans famously laughed off a missed drug test by telling reporters he was “cleaner than clean. I’m Cleaner than Pine’-Sol.”
When I asked him where he comes up with such unique phrases, Evans credited his Southern roots and family background:
“Man we got all kind of little phrases we be saying. You know, you got my mom who jokes a lot and clowns a lot. One thing about us we are some down south people, we’re some country people. So when you really get down into the roots of how deep the country goes and growing up on the dirt roads.”
He added that his extended family was the source of his quotability: “You’re hearing your grand daddy saying so much stuff that it comes natural. You just have to be around us and we say some off the wall stuff and it gets to be so funny but it is also catchy.”
