The Untouchables
Golden State Warriors
Don’t shoot the messenger, NBA fans hoping for some excitement next year, but barring injury, the Golden State Warriors are going to win the 2019 NBA championship. That was true before the DeMarcus Cousins signing, and it was just as true after the fact.
If Boogie gets healthy quickly and jells with an untouchable four-man group that includes Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, he’ll take the Dubs’ absurd dominance to unprecedented levels, addressing their biggest weaknesses on the glass and with a legitimate post presence who can also pass and shoot the 3-ball.
If he can’t stay healthy, or if he returns to action and is a poor fit, the Warriors will prioritize their championship run over everything else, benching him and rolling with either Jordan Bell or Kevon Looney at center — just as they did last year when, aside from a speed bump in the conference finals, they all but cruised to another title.
Don’t forget, the Dubs are still at their deadliest with the small-ball Hamptons 5 lineup that includes Andre Iguodala, who was injured for those same conference finals.
At best, Cousins makes the conversation even more moot than it already was. At medium, he’s deployed as an unstoppable sixth man. At worst, he temporarily threatens the team’s chemistry until he gets benched and Golden State cruises to another championship anyway. The Warriors are just on a different playing field, and Boogie will either make it even more unfair, or won’t change it at all.