Golden State Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins made an early exit from Monday’s Game 2 against the LA Clippers, suffering a left quadricep injury while tumbling after a loose ball with 8 1/2 minutes remaining in the first quarter.
DeMarcus Cousins (left quad injury) will not return to tonight's game. He will get an MRI in the next 24 hours.
— Warriors PR (@WarriorsPR) April 16, 2019
Cousins wasn’t contacted on the play, and immediately stayed down as the Clippers corralled possession and headed upcourt in transition. He immediately flagged the training staff and began heading toward the locker room, walking gingerly on the injured leg.
The team updated his status shortly afterward, announcing he wouldn’t return and will be undergoing an MRI within a day’s time.
Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the team is fearful that Cousins has suffered a torn left quadriceps. Here’s more from Wojnarowski:
The best-case scenario could be a strained quad, but there was evidence that Cousins’ noncontact injury, which occurred while he was pursuing a loose ball in Monday’s 135-131 Game 2 loss to the LA Clippers, was serious and season-ending, league sources said.
During the postgame news conference, Warriors coach Steve Kerr told reporters Cousin’s injury was “pretty significant” and that he expected Cousins “would be out … a while.”
“We’ll rally behind him, tell him it’s far from the end of the world, tell him he has so much great basketball ahead of him,” said Warriors guard Klay Thompson. “He believes that. … He’ll bounce back. I know he will. He’s a fighter.”
Cousins had two points, two rebounds and an assist in just less than 4 minutes. He fouled out of Saturday’s 121-104 Game 1 win with nine points, nine rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes. Kevon Looney picked up the bulk of the extra minutes in Cousins’ absence and scored a career-high 19 points making all six of his shots but the Warriors had their seven-game postseason winning streak snapped that dated to last year’s run to a repeat championship.
Having signed with Golden State while rehabilitating a torn Achilles’ tendon, Cousins had been eager to make his playoff debut in this ninth NBA season. In 30 games as a Warrior, Cousins averaged 16.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks in 25.7 minutes.
“It’s tough for sure, you feel for him considering all he’s been in this last year,” said Warriors guard Stephen Curry. “This is a big stage, the playoffs. He’s been looking forward to this. I don’t know the extent of the injury at this point but hope he gets back sooner than later. But just man to man in terms of him and what he’s been through, it’s tough. There’s no sugarcoating it. You hate seeing that opportunity on this big stage taken away from him like that.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
