Steve Kerr Reveals DeMarcus Cousins’ Status For Game 1

The Golden State Warriors made the NBA Finals for the fifth consecutive season despite the fact they play without DeMarcus Cousins and Kevin Durant. Cousins missed most of the postseason due a torn quad he suffered in April. During the NBA Finals Media Day on Wednesday, head coach Steve Kerr said that Cousins is pain free, adding that he’s been scrimmaging with the Warriors in recent days.

Warriors’ DeMarcus Cousins will be active to play for Game 1 of the NBA Finals after suffering a torn quad in the first round.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) May 30, 2019

Steve Kerr had previously indicated during Finals availability that Cousins was ready to return, but that he was hesitating to have him return during the Finals due to possible rust.

“DeMarcus (Cousins) has done an amazing job coming back from the injury … He’s scrimmaged a couple times this week, he’s pain free.”

As Kerr said, the Warriors are expected to be without Cousins for most of the postseason, however there is a huge possibility that the big man comes to the floor during the NBA Finals. Cousins is listed as questionable for Game 1, but there’s no official decision on his status.

Kerr said that he would play the star on minutes restriction in Game 1 if this was a regular season game.

“DeMarcus has done an amazing job coming back from the injury, which we felt at the time was season-ending. So he’s done an incredible job of rebounding, rehabbing, and now here he is. He’s scrimmaged a couple times this week. He’s pain free, so it’s really more a matter of rhythm and timing and conditioning, all those things.

If this were the regular season, I’d throw him out there and he’d play whatever minutes he could tolerate and we’d build him up from there. This is not the regular season, it’s the Finals, so we have to figure out what’s the best way to utilize him. How many minutes he can play, what the game feels like, what the matchups are like. So some of that will be determined by what’s happening in the game, and the other stuff is just internal with our staff.”

“I feel better each and every day. that’s my whole goal, to make sure I get better with each day that comes,” Cousins said. “Hopefully, that opportunity comes, and I’m able to get on the floor and help my teammates and try to help them win a championship.”