The Golden State Warriors fear center DeMarcus Cousins suffered a torn quad during the team's stunning Game 2 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers in Oakland, Calif., ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported late Monday night.
Noting that the exact nature of the injury won't be known until an MRI exam is performed Tuesday, Wojnarowski reported "there was evidence that Cousins' noncontact injury ... was serious and season-ending, league sources said."
Cousins was injured while trying to run down a loose ball 3 1/2 minutes into the team's eventual 135-131 loss to the Clippers. With the Warriors leading 11-9 and the Clippers possessing the ball just past the half-court line, Cousins deflected a pass and sent it down the court toward the Warriors' bench. Trying to run down the ball before it went out of bounds, Cousins stumbled and went down without being touched, and immediately grabbed his left quad.
He got up and soon limped off the court toward the Warriors' locker room. He had two points on a pair of free throws in four official minutes played. He also had two rebounds and an assist.
Cousins, 28, had nine points, nine rebounds and four assists in Saturday night's Game 1, his first career playoff game. The Warriors won that game 121-104.
Cousins signed a one-year, $5.3 million deal with the Warriors last offseason, then missed the team's first 45 games of the season as he continued to rehab from a ruptured left Achilles tendon he suffered playing for the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 26, 2018.
In taking the one-year deal with the Warriors, Cousins' plan was to use this season to play his way back into a big free-agent contract this summer. If the quad is indeed torn, Cousins "could be facing several more months of rehab," per Wojnarowski.
Picked fifth overall in the 2010 draft, the nine-year veteran is a four-time All-Star with career averages of 21.2 points, 10.9 rebounds. 3.2 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
--Field Level Media
