DeMarcus Cousins: Warriors Won't Rush Him to Training Camp After Achilles Injury

Signing with the Golden State Warriors may not have resulted in a max contract this summer, but it did afford DeMarcus Cousins as much time as he needs to recover from his Achilles injury.

Cousins told reporters at the 2018 NBA Summer League in Las Vegas on Friday night that one of the perks of signing with Golden State is that he won't be rushed back to the court before he's ready, via The Athletic's Anthony Slater:

That's the benefit of joining the two-time defending champs, a team that has won three of the past four titles. The Warriors have enough talent to win even without the center. Given their season will be defined by the postseason and not the regular season, they have every reason to take the rehab process slow. 

When Cousins agreed to sign with the Warriors for the mid-level exception ($5.3 million), basketball fans everywhere were left in utter disbelief. That meant one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history was only getting better.

After all, as Elias Sports (h/t the New York Times' Marc Stein) pointed out, Golden State is poised to become the first team since the 1975-76 Boston Celtics to have a starting lineup featuring five All-Stars from the previous season.

Yes, on paper, the signing seems borderline unfair. What fans forget, though, is that it may be some time before the Warriors can unleash their full All-Star lineup on the rest of the league. Cousins tore his Achilles in January. While he told The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears that he is aiming for a training camp return, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that December or January may be a realistic target date.

Golden State dealt with injury after injury on its way to repeating this past season. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green were all among those who were bitten by the injury bug. Knowing that, the team should do what it can to limit the risk of Cousins getting hurt before the playoffs, even if it means sacrificing valuable minutes of working him into the system.

Until Cousins is 100 percent, the Warriors will have to settle for the famed "Hamptons Five."