Programming note: Watch the NBA Finals pregame edition of Warriors Outsiders on Thursday at 4 p.m., streaming live on the MyTeams app.
DeMarcus Cousins will not be in street clothes on Thursday night.
The big man will be active for Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Warriors and Raptors, Steve Kerr announced after shootaround.
DeMarcus Cousins will be active for Game 1. No word on if he'll start.— Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) May 30, 2019
Cousins sustained a torn left quadriceps in Game 2 of the Warriors' opening-round NBA playoff series against the Clippers.
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About six-and-a-half weeks later, he will be back in uniform.
Kerr admitted on Wednesday that the franchise initially thought Cousins' injury would be season-ending.
"If this were the regular season, I would throw him out there and he would play whatever minutes he could tolerate and we would build him up from there," he told reporters at NBA Finals Media Day. "This is not the regular season. This is The Finals.
"So we have to figure out what's the best way to utilize him, how many minutes can he play, what the game feels like, what the matchups are like. Some of that will be determined by what's happening in the game, and the other stuff is just internal with our staff."
Draymond Green offered a very specific analogy to describe Cousins' predicament.
[LISTEN: Warriors Outsiders Podcast -- NBA Finals preview]
"It's kind of like some kid who grew up in the suburbs going to private school and then one day you just got dropped in the ‘hood and was told to survive," he said Wednesday. "You got to figure that out. It's very similar to that."
Furthermore, Kevin Durant is out for Game 1 and is "pretty doubtful" for Game 2.
