Kevin Durant has already been ruled out for Game 1 of the 2019 NBA Finals, but the Golden State Warriors left the door ajar on the possibility of DeMarcus Cousins making his return Thursday. After Cousins participated in practice Monday and scrimmaged with the reserves, the Warriors have tagged him as questionable.
Cousins suffered a torn left quad on April 15 during Game 2 of the Warriors' first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The initial timetable gave Cousins a chance, albeit slim, of coming back in time for the Finals, cautioning that his return was dependent on Boogie's ability to heal.
"DeMarcus is making good progress right now," Steve Kerr said, per ESPN. "The timing of this whole thing is tricky because he misses two months. It always takes big guys longer to find their rhythm; the speed of their game is so fast. If this was the regular season, this would be simple: Put him back in the starting lineup, and give him his minutes, and let him work his way back in and find his rhythm. It'd be an easy one. But we're going into Game 1 of the Finals."
Meanwhile, Durant's return is clearly further away than Cousins. At the moment, the Warriors haven't even determined if KD, who is dealing with a calf issue, will travel with the team to Toronto for the first two games of the series.
