The Golden State Warriors are counting the days until DeMarcus Cousins is fully recovered from the ruptured achilles he suffered last season as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans. At that point, the Warriors will become even more terrifying than they are right now, as they’ll be able to throw out a lineup that features five All-Stars between Cousins, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson.
There’s no rush to get Cousins back, because Golden State is still very good even if he’s on the sideline. Still, it was revealed on Thursday that he’s been cleared to participate in 5-on-5 scrimmages, a huge step forward in his recovery process.
As for the plan with Cousins beyond this season, well, Steve Kerr let it be known that it’s already more or less set in stone. The Warriors coach spoke to the media on Thursday and let it be known that any hopes of keeping Cousins around past this summer are for naught.
Steve Kerr on DeMarcus' 1-year deal with the W's:“We made no bones about it when we signed him. This is a 1-year deal and we're not going to have money to sign him next year so we'd like to help him win a championship and sign a great contract somewhere else. That's the reality."
— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) November 1, 2018
This makes sense when you consider that Golden State needs to take care of Durant and Thompson this summer, not to mention Green in 2020. That’s a ton of money to go around, and apparently, everyone in the organization understands this is a temporary arrangement.
I truly don’t understand why anyone (twitter) thinks this is a big deal that Kerr said this… Every single person in the organization is on the same page about this. There is nothing new here. https://t.co/amiQQTlijc
— Grant Liffmann (@GrantLiffmann) November 1, 2018
The Warriors did get awfully lucky when it came to Cousins agreeing to join them, as there was a reduced market for him after his achilles injury and Golden State just happened to have the money to throw around and hole on their roster for him to fill. Add in that Cousins turned down the chance to return to New Orleans for more money and everything did work out perfectly for Golden State.
Those ultra-fortunate circumstances won’t pop up next summer barring a disaster. The Warriors understand this, and it appears like that’s a motivating factor for them over the course of this season.
