By word of Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, it was announced that injured all-star DeMarcus Cousins will return to play on January 18th against the Los Angeles Clippers. It will be nearly a year since Cousins last played in which he posted a 15/11/13 stat line before tearing his left Achilles tendon and being sidelined for the rest of the season. He joins a Warriors side already in the midst of a dynasty who have the likes of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, and Kevin Durant at their disposal.
Although Cousins will make his return on Friday, the team will be cautious as they’ll restrict his playing time under a set of minutes. Additionally, his entry to the team will force them to design a new strategy that allows Boogie to be as effective as he has always been while at the same time keeping their deadly efficient offense intact. The Warriors, in recent years, have been a team with no true big man protecting the rim. The reason for that is simply because they don’t need one. Golden State’s switch-heavy defense makes such players unusable. Everyone has to move around the court and quickly. If one can’t do so, then they’ll not play.
It’s the reason why guys like Javale McGee, Andre Bogut, and Zaza Pachulia are no longer with the team. With Cousins, not only do you have a player who’s good at posting up and passing the ball while there to players looking for a sly lay-up, you also have his commendable three-point shooting and driving abilities which would make any defense tremble in fear as they don’t have a counter to both his size and agility on the attack.
However, Cousins is coming back from injury after all and no one knows if he’ll truly be able to compete when that fateful game comes around. Boogie will need to log in minutes before he feels he’s back to normal. And if he does return to form, then good for him. Patience bears fruit in the long run.
On the other hand, the reaction from outside of Oakland over the news has not been kind. Cousins’ return reminds everyone once again just how much ammunition the Warriors have compared to the rest of the NBA, putting them in a level no one else can match. The first time something like this happened came when the Warriors acquired Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016. Durant’s move sparked an amount of vitriol the basketball world hasn’t seen since LeBron James’ The Decision telecast which saw the latter move his talents to South Beach. KD’s move was seen by many as the literal death of the league as one team collected enough talent to unmercifully win as many titles as possible. As a result, insults were thrown, nicknames were created, and memes were born.
