DeMarcus Cousins: From Alabama Fan to Raiders Superfan
DeMarcus Cousins doesn’t blend into a crowd. He erases it.
At 6-foot-10 and roughly 270 pounds, the former NBA All-Star cut through the fan section at Raiders training camp on August 7 and instantly became a second attraction. Phones shot up. Kids stared. Grown men did double takes. Half of Raider Nation seemed torn between asking for a photo and simply marveling at the sheer size of the guy in the black gear.
Cousins has called Las Vegas home for a decade now, but his bond with the Silver and Black was forged long before the franchise ever rolled into the desert.
It started in Alabama.
From Mobile to the Black Hole
Growing up between Mobile and Birmingham, Cousins watched a local legend turn into a national story. JaMarcus Russell, the five-star quarterback phenom from his area — and, fittingly, a rival high school — became the figurehead of a generation of kids who believed someone from their streets could own Saturdays and Sundays.
Cousins followed Russell’s rise to LSU, then to the 2007 NFL Draft, when the Oakland Raiders made him the No. 1 overall pick. The quarterback’s pro career never matched the hype, but the impact on a young DeMarcus Cousins was already sealed.
"Regardless of how it turned out as far as his professional career ... he's the reason why I became a Raiders fan," Cousins told Raiders.com.
For a kid from a state without a major pro team, the Raiders became more than a logo on a helmet. They were a long-distance identity. A team he had to love from afar.
So when the franchise uprooted from Oakland and landed in Las Vegas, it hit different.
"When the Raiders moved out here, it felt like a gift sent from God, specifically for me," he said. "[Being] from Alabama, we never had our own professional sports team, so the team I was a fan of, I've always had to be a fan from afar. I feel like it was meant to be and that's how I know this place is home for me."
From Lottery Pick to Raider Nation Regular
Cousins knows a thing or two about being the can’t-miss kid. A five-star recruit himself, he spent one season at Kentucky before the Sacramento Kings grabbed him with the No. 5 pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.
With Oakland just a straight shot down I-80 from Sacramento, the pull of the Coliseum was inevitable. By his fourth NBA season, he finally made it to a Raiders home game, stepping into a stadium that felt like a physical version of everything he’d imagined from a distance.
What he saw in the stands matched how he’d always viewed the team.
"I think it's a collective group, a collective community of passionate fans," Cousins said. "They kind of got that grittiness to them, not scared to do the dirty work. I like those type of fans. I like the hard workers, I like the 'us against the world' type attitude. That's what represents Raider Nation."
That edge, that chip, that sense of defiance — it resonated with a player who spent his own career fighting on the court, sometimes literally, for respect.
Woodson, Worship and Mutual Respect
JaMarcus Russell may have opened the door to Raider fandom, but Cousins’ list of favorite Raiders doesn’t end under center.
Charles Woodson sits near the top.
Cousins grew up watching No. 24 glide across screens, locking down receivers, baiting quarterbacks, changing games with a single read. Over time, life as a pro athlete brought their worlds closer. Friends overlapped. Introductions were made. The kid who once watched Woodson on TV now counts the Hall of Famer as part of his circle.
"We have a lot of mutual friends that have kind of eventually brought our circles together," Cousins said. "His legacy speaks for itself. He's one of one. Just being able to have a relationship with him, outside of also being a fan at the same time, I think that's really cool."
For Cousins, it’s a rare duality: peer and fan, colleague and admirer. The kind of connection that only deepens his attachment to the shield.
A Giant Among Giants
Back at training camp, Cousins moved from the stands to the field, his family in tow. Even in a space built for big men, he still looked oversized.
Next to Tyler Linderbaum, Kolton Miller and Maxx Crosby — hardly small figures in any context — Cousins still managed to tower over them. The visual underlined what the fans had already seen in the bleachers: when DeMarcus Cousins is in the building, you notice.
He wasn’t just there to be seen, though. He was watching.
Drills. Tempo. Energy. Personnel.
What he saw left him bullish on where this version of the Raiders is heading.
"The future is bright for the Raiders right now," he said. "Got the No. 1 pick in [Fernando] Mendoza, We got an incredible pick in [Ashton] Jeanty as well. We've improved our O-line, our defense is unbelievable – I believe they could be top 5 or top 10 in the league.
"Our future is bright."
From a kid in Alabama watching JaMarcus Russell light up Friday nights, to an NBA star catching his first game at the Coliseum, to a Las Vegas resident strolling through Raiders camp like he’s walking into his own living room, Cousins’ journey with the franchise has stretched across states, careers and eras.
Now, he’s not just the towering fan in the crowd. He’s the local believer looking at a roster, a city and a franchise and seeing something that feels familiar.
Potential on the verge of breaking through.
