Getty Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins
The much-anticipated debut of Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins has built plenty of hype, but it finally came on Friday night. The team’s free-agent signing made his debut after missing the first 45 games of the current season, and the bulk of the second half last year due to a torn Achilles. Not surprisingly, NBA fans are locked in to see how the 28-year-old performs in his first game back from injury.
With Cousins’ long rehab now behind him, he’s been cleared and Warriors coach Steve Kerr gave him the starting nod. Fortunately, fans didn’t have to wait long for the All-Star center to make his presence felt, as he didn’t just score early, he threw down a huge dunk.
That’s quite the start for Cousins, and now comes the question of how his conditioning will be after such a long layoff. He had two points and one rebound early but picked up his second foul just three minutes into the game. This sent Cousins to the bench and wrapped up his first stint as a Warrior.
The next topic will be the Warriors’ loaded starting five with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Cousins which features a ton of mouths to feed. How this group coexists will be another major talking point moving forward.
DeMarcus Cousins’ Impressive Stretch With Pelicans
Cousins was traded from the Sacramento Kings to the New Orleans Pelicans during the 2016-17 season and he went on to play 17 games that year with Anthony Davis and company. He proceeded to play in 48 games before suffering the season-ending injury last year, and over the span of 65 games in New Orleans left a strong impression.
Cousins put together averages of 25.0 points, 12.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.6 blocks, and 1.5 steals. He also shot 46.5 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from beyond the arc. Over the span of his career, the man known as ‘Boogie’ has played in 535 games over eight years. In that stretch, he’s totaled 21.5 points and 11.0 rebounds per game while knocking down 46 percent of his field goal attempts.
Plan for DeMarcus Cousins Moving Forward
While there’s not expected to be a set minutes restriction on Cousins throughout the early stages of his tenure with the Warriors, he’ll likely play a limited amount early on. As Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports revealed, Cousins attempted to get cleared weeks before this game but opted against it so he wouldn’t have a low number of set minutes.
Haynes reported that if the center had come back early that he’d be on a 10-minute restriction. Instead of going that route, he proceeded to do more rehab and make it so he could potentially see more court time immediately.
READ NEXT: Warriors Roster & Lineup vs. Clippers in DeMarcus Cousins’ Return