The worst possible news for Warriors' big man DeMarcus Cousins has been reportedly confirmed.
Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes is reporting that Cousins will miss the entire playoffs with a left quadriceps injury.
The 28-year-old suffered the injury in the first quarter of Tuesday's Game 2 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, when he was chasing down a loose ball and his left leg gave out. He immediately grabbed his leg and asked to be subbed out of the game.
“There's a pretty significant quad injury,” coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “We'll get an MRI [Wednesday]. But he's going to be out for … I'll just say a while because I think it's unclear right now how long he'll be out. It's significant.”
"There's a pretty significant quad injury."
— NBA TV (@NBATV) April 16, 2019
Steve Kerr shares the latest on DeMarcus Cousins.#NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/JFzMc5VcNL
In January, Cousins made his return from a left Achilles tear that put him out of action for a year. It was the first time in his nine year career he was competing in the postseason.
The Warriors still have faint optimism that he could return should they make the NBA Finals according to Haynes.
With Cousins now out, the Warriors will have to look for Aussie Andrew Bogut and Kevan Loney to fill in at the center position. Bogut, who joined the team after winning the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in the NBL with the Sydney Kings didn't expect to be playing major minutes in the postseason, but he's now in a position where he may start.
“Yeah, obviously there will be more minutes,” Bogut told the San Fransico Chronicle. “It’ll still be matchup dependent, but I anticipate probably starting games, playing the first (handful of) minutes and then coming out.
“Hopefully (Cousins’ injury) is not too serious. It didn’t look good.”
Bogut averaged 11.4 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in the NBL this season.
He'll have big shoes to fill as Cousins averaged 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in 30 regular season games.
The Warriors signed Cousins' to a 1-year 5.3 million dollar contract in the summer of 2018, he'll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.
