DeMarcus Cousins made his return on Saturday against the Los Angeles Clippers after almost a year-long absence from the NBA.
Cousins in a new city and new jersey dropped 15 points and six rebounds in the Warriors 112-94 win over the Clippers. He knocked down three 3-pointers, dished out three assists, had a block and a steal and fouled out in 15 minutes of play.
.@boogiecousins puts up 14 PTS, 6 REB in his @warriors debut! #DubNation pic.twitter.com/WfWrNEihSW
— NBA (@NBA) January 19, 2019
It might take Boogie a bit to get back to his All-Star calibre play but getting one game under his belt was more than half the battle.
We decided to take a look at some other notable stars’ comeback after long layoffs and how they stacked up compared to Cousins’ game on Saturday.
Paul George
Paul George suffered one of the most gruesome injuries you can experience, and he wasn’t even playing in an NBA game at the time. The five-time All-Star suffered a compound fracture to his right leg, which forced him to miss the first 76 games of Indiana’s season in 2014-15.
To his credit, George did appear in the final six games of the year, and his first game back against the Miami Heat resulted in a 23-point blowout win for the Pacers.
George came off the bench and played just 14 minutes finishing with 13 points, two rebounds and two assists in the win.
The Pacers missed the playoffs that season finishing with a 38-44 record, but with PG13 getting to play those six games, it set him up for a strong 2015-16 season where he was an All-Star averaging 23.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 81 games.
Kawhi Leonard
No one truly knows how severe Kawhi Leonard’s quad injury that forced him to miss all but nine games in 2017-18 was but it led to him now playing and starring for the Toronto Raptors.
All eyes were on Kawhi when the Raptors started the 2018-19 campaign with Toronto having invested their hope that he would once again be the Kawhi of old.
After showing positive signs in the preseason, Leonard finally had a chance to answer his critics and that he did finishing with 24 points, 12 rebounds in 37 minutes as the Raptors cruised to a 116-104 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Despite missing some games this season, Leonard has played at an All-Star level and once again has fans in Toronto hoping they can finally break through and make the Finals.
Gordon Hayward
Gordon Hayward was all set to start the second phase of his career in Boston with a team that looked primed and ready to get back to the NBA Finals, but one game into that season with so much promise Hayward a devastating broken leg injury.
After sitting out all of 2017-18 recovering from the left leg injury, Hayward made his return to the Celtics’ line-up to start this season against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Hayward started the game and played 24 minutes finishing with 10 points, five rebounds in an 18-point blowout win over the rival 76ers.
Hayward has only missed four games so far this year as he works himself back into what Celtics’ fans hope is All-Star form.
Derrick Rose
No NBA player in the last ten seasons has had more frustrations with injuries than Derrick Rose.
The Bulls super-talent was getting ready to lead Chicago on what they were hoping would be a long playoff run but instead saw their franchise star tear the ACL in his left knee with 1:20 left to play in a game where the Bulls were up by 12 points.
Rose then sat out the entire 2012-13 season with the injury and finally made his return in 2013-14 in the first game of that season against the Miami Heat. The Bulls lost that game 107-95 but Rose started and played 34 minutes finishing with 12 points, four assists.
Unfortunately for the Bulls he never quite got back to his MVP form of years past, but Rose has continued to work and is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance season this year with the Minnesota Timberwolves averaging 18.8 points, 4.8 assists shooting a career-high 46% from three-point range.
Kobe Bryant
Kobe was in the middle of playing seven straight games where he logged at least 40 minutes and his body seemingly finally gave out on him in game 80 of the 2012-13 season.
Bryant ruptured his Achilles in the Lakers’ 118-116 win over the Golden State Warriors — he later had to have surgery ending his season and delaying the start of his 2013-14 campaign.
Upon his return in December of 2013 against the Raptors, Kobe started and played 28 minutes finishing with nine points, eight rebounds.
He was later shut down for the season appearing in only six games that year.
