DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall explain how Wall stole Cousins' dance for his iconic moment

Finally, we have the full story of how John Wall stole his iconic dance from DeMarcus Cousins at Big Blue Madness. Speaking on Wall’s new podcast, Wall and Cousins recounted the night the John Wall Dance was born in 2009 when Kentucky fans were introduced to the six-four freshman from Raleigh, North Carolina… number eleven… John Wall!

The dance took off as Wall took off in his All-American freshman season at Kentucky. It even had its own rap song. If you ball like Wall then you gotta do the dance. You remember. You may also remember a story we’ve shared over the years of DeMarcus Cousins nearly doing the dance first, only to catch a case of stage fright when he was introduced ahead of Wall. Wall first tried to tell the story on his new show, but Cousins interjected. “No, no–I’m speaking my truth, bro. This is my time because I’ve been on this sh*t a long time.” 

From there, Cousins’ story begins with his excitement going into Big Blue Madness and his plans to get the crowd hyped up during his part in the player introductions. As he tells it, Calipari overheard Cousins’ excitement and “chewed his ass out” about being professional during the intros. “None of that silly sh*t,” Boogie recalled Calipari saying to him.

“So, my mind was made up to do one thing, then Cal kind of got on my ass about it. So once we get on the little railing–I’m one of the first people to come out too–so we get on the railing, and I’m like, oh, this sh*t is kind of wobbly, and they’re putting us probably 12 feet in the air. So, I’m like, oh, this sh*t is like kind of wobbly and I’m afraid of heights.”

Cousins admitted he was terrified at that moment. “I’m literally about to sh*t myself.”

Minutes later, Wall gave Kentucky fans a moment they will never forget with his iconic dance, the dance Cousins didn’t do. “That’s my dance!” Cousins yells on the new podcast as Wall confesses, “It wasn’t even supposed to be my dance. What do they say? Don’t miss your blessings. Boy went out there and got shook and I took over.”

It’s all love between best friends, though. Cousins even says it was better for everyone that Wall did the dance and was the face of their team. “Honestly, bro, you were the perfect dude for it because there ain’t no way in hell I would have been able to carry that the way you did.”

Cousins later adds, “I tell that story with a sense of humor, but everything played out; our time at Kentucky happened exactly like it was supposed to. Everybody ended up benefiting from it in the exact way they were supposed to. You take something as small as, man, I was supposed to be the one dancing, that’s my song. But if this dude don’t go out and do what he did, the rest of us don’t shine the way we do.”

Hit play below to hear Cousins tell the whole story and lots more. Is it weird that I’m crying?