Will DeMarcus Cousins Remain A Warrior Past This Season?

Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr was being clear that he did not expect DeMarcus Cousins to return to the team after this season.

That was how everybody understood the deal DeMarcus Cousins signed with the Golden State Warriors this offseason. It was mutually agreed on a one-and-done deal.

The Warriors will help DeMarcus Cousins get back to his healthy self, as he, in turn, help them win the third consecutive championship.

The Warriors General Manager, Bob Myers mentioned an interesting possibility. If Cousins wants to stay, “options are open.”

Now, it does not mean that Steve Kerr did not know what he was talking about when he said he did not expect Cousins to stay on the team next season. He actually understood all the numbers involved.

The numbers show that the chance of Demarcus Cousins staying in the Bay Area are still slim. Since the Warriors do not have his bird-right, the max contract they can offer is 120% of the previous year’s salary, which is $5.3M.

So after this season, the Warriors can only offer roughly $6.4M to Cousins, which is a lot less than what other teams can offer or even the expected non-taxpayer’s mid-level exception of $9M next season. So pretty much everybody with a cap space can outbid the Warriors.

This is what makes Cousins’ return to the Bay Area very unlikely. If he does, he will have to accept a significant pay cut, and there is not much what the Warriors can do about it. All they can offer is a winning culture, which most likely isn’t enough to retain the superstar center.

Sure, the Warriors would like to have him back after this season. But whether Kevin Durant stays or leaves has nothing to do with how much the team can offer him money wise. Durant, one of Cousins close friends, will have some impact on Cousins.

Then again, we don’t even know that Durant will back in the Bay next season with all the speculation surrounding the Slim Reaper.

It is weird to say, but there is a higher possibility of his former teammate Anthony Davis joining the Warriors in 2020 than DeMarcus Cousins coming back after this season.