DeMarcus Cousins Is Reportedly Looking To Make His Warriors Debut After Christmas


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The Warriors have been in a bit of a funk lately, but despite a rough stretch without Steph Curry and Draymond Green, they remain the second seed in the West at 14-7.

Curry is expected to return soon from his groin injury, and that bodes well for Golden State as they are, unsurprisingly, a much better team with their two-time MVP point guard. However, the Warriors also figure to get another major addition sometime in the relatively near future, as DeMarcus Cousins apparently is targeting some time after Christmas for his Warriors debut.

According to Logan Murdock of Bay Area News Group, Cousins and the Warriors training staff met recently as the All-Star center was hoping to return even sooner, possibly during the Warriors’ upcoming road trip. However, they pushed that return back so he could focus on being at peak conditioning when he does return, and he will continue to be reevaluated periodically to see how his surgically repaired Achilles tendon is faring as his workload picks up.

There’s no set return date, but one would assume “after Christmas” would put something around the start of 2019 in play. As Murdock notes, Cousins has begun scrimmaging, along with Curry, as he looks to get into game shape.

According to sources, Cousins – who signed a one-year, $5.2 million deal in July – participated in a scrimmage alongside Stephen Curry Saturday before the team’s 117-116 victory over the Kings. According to a player in the scrimmage, Cousins looked “solid.” The scrimmages have been a part of Cousins’ new six-day a week regimen with the team in anticipation of his pending return.

The Warriors, when at full strength, have an embarrassment of riches, but as their injury woes have shown, they are vulnerable due to the top-heavy nature of their roster. Cousins being able to give them a strong interior presence when Green needs rest (or simply to keep him from having to play too many minutes on his injured toe) could be more important to Golden State this season than most anticipated when he signed this offseason as a luxury addition to the roster.

Golden State could use some better balance on the roster on offense as so much of their production comes from the perimeter, and Cousins, if he’s close to the same player, would certainly draw attention to the frontcourt in a very big way on the offensive end.

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