The Warriors won't rush DeMarcus Cousins back from his injury.
While speaking to reporters Sunday during the team's summer-league win over the Rockets, general manager Bob Myers revealed the ideal timeline for the newly-acquired center's return.
“The goal for us is to have him in the playoffs,” Myers said, via The Mercury News. “That doesn’t mean we’ll wait until the playoffs. When he’s ready to play, he’ll play. We just don’t know when that will be.”
Cousins, who was playing for the Pelicans when he tore an Achilles tendon in January, is expected to be re-evaluated later this month to assess his progress and determine the next step in his recovery.
Given that he's joined a lineup that already features All-Stars Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, there's no pressure for Cousins to hurry back and risk aggravating the injury.
“I think the surgery is anywhere from eight to ten months from the time you have it,” Myers said. “For us, it won’t be, ‘We need you to get out there tonight. It’ll be ramping it up slowly. You can’t really tell with a guy until they get on the court and does certain things.
“You never know how it’s going to culminate. We don’t have an established center so it actually worked out well. The fact we can play some of the young guys heading into the season and waiting for them to get ready, it’s good for us.”
Cousins, 27, signed with the Warriors on a one-year deal worth $5.3 million last week after LeBron James agreed to a four-year contract worth $154 million with the Lakers.
