Golden State Warriors: 3 reasons DeMarcus Cousins hysteria is overblown

1. Warriors added Cousins because no one else would

There is ample reason to be skeptical of what Cousins will be in 2018-19. He could be back for opening night, but he also might be out until after the All-Star break. After witnessing Isaiah Thomas transform from fringe MVP candidate to fringe rotation player in the course of one year, reservation makes sense. And that was a hip injury; this is an Achilles. Not just an Achilles, but an Achilles for a 260-pound dude who has always struggled to stay in shape.

You can spin how adaptable Cousins’ skill-set is to an Achilles tear relative to other players whichever direction you’d like. His success is based mostly on skill and strength, meaning a loss of athleticism won’t spell doom.

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At the same time, a player with limited athleticism might not be able to afford losing more of it. Think about Dominique Wilkins and Rudy Gay, two of the best Achilles tear recovery successes (though Gay is just one year removed). They each had athleticism to spare; Cousins does not.

The point is this: No one knows. And given that the rehabbing player is almost always going to be more confident than the team’s committing money to them, that uncertainty created a standoff. It wasn’t that there were no teams interested in making Cousins an offer, but rather, teams thought that anything close to their idea of a reasonable contract would be unreasonable to Cousins.

There was some risk involved for the Warriors. Their lack of wing depth nearly cost them a trip to the NBA Finals, and it could be even worse next year as Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston continue to age. The MLE was their chance to shore this up, and committing it instead to a boom-or-bust center doesn’t make a ton of sense in a vacuum.

Still, the risk is minimal. Signing Cousins does not relinquish Golden State’s market power. Soon enough there will be over-qualified wings available at the minimum just as Cousins was at the MLE. Besides, the team is loaded with position-less stars who can play down should Cousins simply be healthy enough to rebound, pass out of the post and shoot 3s. As for his attitude (already an overblown issue from a team chemistry perspective), it should not be a problem given the powerful voices in Golden State’s locker room.

Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far

For the rest of the league, signing DeMarcus Cousins did not make sense. For Golden State, it did. Really, it’s that simple.