For anyone who doubted that DeMarcus Cousins is one of the most beloved NBA players around, yesterday’s outpouring of shock, sadness and well-wishes following news that he’d suffered a torn ACL in an offseason practice should’ve made that point clear. Cousins’ former teammate, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, is among those in the NBA who are stunned and saddened by the big man’s misfortunes.
In Las Vegas to visit Team USA — where Cousins was on Monday when he knocked knees with someone during practice, resulting in the injury — Green expressed being at a loss for words when he heard of Cousins’ latest season-ending injury.
Cousins missed all of the 2018-19 season following a ruptured Achilles and most of the 2019 playoffs due to a torn quadriceps.
According to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Green had seen Cousins just last week and told Cousins that “he hadn’t seen him look this fit and slim since his college days at Kentucky.”
And although Cousins had signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency, Green was still cheering for the man they call Boogie to have a dominant year with the Lakers in 2019-20.
In an interview with The Undefeated’s Marc Spears (per Youngmisuk), Green said:
One of my goals coming into this season was for DeMarcus to destroy everybody and come back and show how great of a player he is and get what I think he deserves. I’m really at a loss for words about it. It’s one that really hurt me for sure.
But Green does not discount Cousins’ ability to come back from his third major injury in less than two years — two of which are the most feared by basketball players.
Showing faith in his former teammate, Green told Youngmisuk:
He made it out of Mobile, Alabama. The NBA is tough, very tough to get to, very tough to stay in. But he made it out of Mobile, Alabama. If he can do that, he can do anything.
The question now, though, is whether Cousins wants to put his body through another year of grinding rehab only to turn around and put it at risk of further injury.
